Forces United - Dark Wolf Begins
by TurquoiseTriangle
Summary: After losing his older brother, a young lone wolf forced himself to fight in a war with the blue hedgehog and a group of strangers. There were many obstacles but the problems for the wolf were the terrible secrets he hide and a dangerous unknown secret. Can he really do this? (Based on Sonic Forces)
1. Life of a Wolf

**AN: Hi there readers,**

 **I'm TurquoiseTriangle and this is my first ever fanfiction story. I don't own the Sonic the Hedgehog game series but the only things I own are some of the characters and new parts. Please note that this will be different to the game because some parts that were supposed to be in this story would be changed or removed. Put down a review but please no nasty comments (you could at least put down some improvements I should do).**

* * *

 _Look around you, what can you see that's going on?_

 _Do you see everything we have is gone and never returned?_

 _Our whole home in flames and we have nowhere to go?_

 _All our family and friends killed for nothing and we are all ourselves?_

 _Why is all this happening and becoming unfair for us?_

 _Why do those demons wanted to take over our home?_

 _Why do they wanted us to fear and be known to be worthless?_

 _Don't they know we have meaningful lives with beautiful future dreams?_

 _Don't they know that they took everything that is worthy for us?_

 _When will this war end...?_

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - Life of a Wolf**

 **Australia, 27/07, Clay's POV**

"Do we have to do this?" I said. "I'm bad in that."

"It's good for your health," said Belt.

Before I could make any more excuses, Belt hustled me outside. We went outside our treehouse and went to the tree where he hung the punching bag.

"Now this time, I want you to not give up easily OK?" said Belt.

I groaned. "OK, then."

Before I move on, I should have introduce myself. Sorry, it was a bit rude of me but I forgot to.

My name is Clay Colourz. I'm a wolf.

But not that kind of 'wolf' you would be thinking. I'm an animal person like Sonic the Hedgehog. My ears are curved upwards, my quills have white tips on them, have fangs, white fur on my chest and a short bushy tail with a white tip.

Unlike other wolves, my fur color is turquoise. I even wear blue headphones, a wooden cross necklace, a dark grey zip-less vest, dark grey gloves with yellow rings, dark grey pants and black/purple shoes.

My older brother, Belt, is just like me. But except that he has different look. His fur is red but sometimes change colour based on his mood. His vest, gloves and shoes are ice blue and his rings are mint green. He doesn't wear headphones or a wooden cross necklace but he wears black glasses since he couldn't see properly and a tan three-pouched utility belt.

I and Belt have live together in one of Australia's largest forests. We live in our tree-house in the middle of the woods by ourselves. It's quite lonely there since nobody came over. Belt was the only person I known for so long. We get along with each other very well though we might not have EVERYTHING in common.

Anyway, Belt already steered me to the punching bag. I don't like it at all. I'm not really that strong or tough and that bag is really hard to hit. I hate it.

I stood in front of it and Belt went behind it.

"OK," he said. "Show me what you got."

I did one punch but it wasn't enough. It only moved the punching bag a bit.

"Harder," said Belt.

I did another one and that moved the punching bag further.

"You can do this."

I tried my best to move the punching bag further. I tried to punch the bag very hard that it would sent Belt flying. But Belt didn't fall yet. Finally, I had an idea. I took a few steps back and then ran towards it. Instead of punching it, I KICKED it.

WHAM!

This caused the punching bag swing upwards. But I realized that this caused to knock Belt and he was flying up in the air. Luckily, he landed on some bushes. Though that saved him, these bushes were prickly.

"Ow...," he groaned.

I went up to him.

"Are you OK?" I asked.

Belt smiled weakly, "Good one but that doesn't count."

I helped him on his feet before looking at his watch.

"I got to get dinner soon," he said. "You get back into the tree-house now."

I did what he said and went straight to the tree-house. Belt followed behind me. The tree-house might look small from outside but inside, it was very roomy.

"Now stay there and I'll be right back," said Belt as I got inside.

"Wait," I said.

"What is it?"

"Yesterday, I found something in your room."

"What was it?"

I rushed into his room and picked up a photo that was on Belt's desk. I came back and showed him. It was a photo of two wolves. There was a light purple female wolf who was wearing a purple and white dress. Next to her was a blue male wolf who wore a uniform.

"Who are they?" I asked. "Do we know them before?"

"Um…yes," said Belt. "They were our parents."

I was surprised. "That's them? Mum and Dad?"

"Yep."

"Wow! I didn't know that were them when I first found it. So they raised us before, right?"

"Um…yes."

"So what happened to them? How come they are not with us anymore?"

Belt started to look nervous. His fur was turning redder.

"Um…um…I don't know."

"You don't know what happened to them?"

"Um…I do know…um…but…I think they may have…"

Belt's voice trailed off. He hesitated. It seemed like it was hard for him to answer. He then quickly forgot about it and said to me, "We'll talk about it later."

He closed the door hatch. I looked out of the window to see him walking slowly. He let out a big sigh of relief and went on.

"Well that was weird," I thought. "I wonder why Belt didn't want to tell."

I was thinking about going outside and joined Belt but I couldn't. He didn't allowed me to. He always wanted me to be safe inside because I'm too 'young'. But I have already turned 14 and I'm old enough to go with him. I guessed he was overprotective and feared that I might be lost.

Anyway, I looked at the photo of my parents. I wondered how it would be like if I get to see them. But most importantly, what happened to them?

I placed the photo back in Belt's room and went to my own room. I was about to go on my bed when I saw something on my desk.

It was another glasses just like Belt's but it had an olive-green dome-shaped headset and a microphone on it. It was supposed to be a gift for him.

In 4 days, it is going to be Belt's birthday and I decided to give Belt an upgrade. Just a few days ago, when I was at home alone, I ordered those headset glasses online and I hid it from him. These glasses are much better than Belt's. They are more powerful and can make people see more clearly.

"Belt would be happy to get those glasses," I thought. "Hopefully on his birthday, he would cheer up."

* * *

 **AN: Here is Clay's bio**

 **Name: Clay Colourz**

 **Age: 14**

 **Species: Wolf**

 **Eye Color: Gold**

 **Fur Color: Turquoise**

 **Skin Color: Light Peach**

 **Quill/Hair Style: Four small tufts of fur sticking from both sides of the head and have white tips.**

 **Attire: Blue Headphones with Black Headband, Wooden Cross Necklace, Dark Grey Zipless Vest, Dark Grey Gloves with Large Yellow Rings (one ring on each wrist), Brown Belt with Yellow Buckle, Dark Grey Pants with a stripe of White/Purple Flag Pattern, Black/Purple Shoes with Yellow Buckles**

 **Noticeable Features: Have fangs**

 **Personality: Friendly, Kind, Shy, Sensitive, Short-Tempered, Compassionate (care for everyone and sometimes care for the bad guys), Negative, Wolfish, Struggles to tell his feelings, Lazy at sometimes, Gets embarrassed easily, Can be greedy**

 **Trivia**

 **\- Have an interest in music and art**

 **\- Gets frustrated when trying to talk**

 **\- Likes to tie up his quills as a ponytail**

 **...And that is it. First Chapter done! Sorry that this isn't that exciting but the action will come soon. Chapter 2 is coming soon!**


	2. Forest Tournament Town

**AN: What's up, readers? Chapter 2 is finally here! The action didn't start yet but I have to introduce a few more characters that will be in this story. Also, I made a few extra parts in the first chapter. Anyway, enjoy it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 - Forest Tournament Town.**

 **Third Person's POV**

As Belt walked away from the tree-house and into the forest, he did a sigh of relief.

"That was close," he thought. "I know I should tell him but how am I going to?"

Belt quickly forgot about that and went on walking. It was getting dark; the sun was setting. Despite the lack of light, it was a nice stroll in the forest. There were many trees with the branches swaying slowly. Colorful flowers appeared on the green bushes. It seemed to be a nice place to take a picnic there.

Belt continued to walk through the forest. There was one place he knew he was going for: Forest Tournament Town.

The town was far away from Belt's home but he was able to get there within an hour. That was where Belt got his supplies or received money from. He and Clay could had stayed there but Belt was used to living in his tree-house that he didn't want to leave.

As Belt went over a mountain, he could see the town. There was a large wall surrounding the town that was made from white and red bricks. It was like a castle wall without the towers.

Right behind the wall were many buildings all colored differently. There were larger buildings that represented some of the town's trends/highlights. Right in the middle was a huge stadium with flashing colorful lights on top.

Belt smiled. It was always NICE coming to Forest Tournament Town for a visit.

Meanwhile in the town, it was packed with animal people of many species. Dogs, Cats, Rabbits…you name it. There were tons of them.

In the crowd, there was one young female cat walking down the streets.

Her name was Beth Lehem or usually, called 'Bubblegum'.

Her fur was bubble-gum pink and her eyes were light navy blue. She wore a black police sleeveless vest (that covers her torso and bottom), black gloves (the left glove had the letter 'B' on it while the right glove had metal spikes on the wrist part) and purple/black metal sneakers with spiked shoe soles. For accessories, she wore spy tech ear piece on her left that showed a purple hologram screen on the left eye. On her left arm, there was a white skull tattoo with a red bow on top of the skull.

Anyway, she was walking back to her house after signing up for the police. Bubblegum always wanted to be a police cop and despite being only 14 years old, she was able to pass.

Arriving at her house, Bubblegum was greeted by her 'sister' Emerald.

Emerald was an ice blue rabbit whose long ears were floppy and her eyes were emerald green. She wore a yellow jacket with aquamarine stripes, a blue top with purple polka dots, white gloves with pink-gold bracelets, a purple skirt, white ripped jeans and white shoes with pink hearts on them.

"Hey there Bubblegum!" called Emerald loudly.

Bubblegum cringed a bit. Emerald can be naive and humiliate herself or Bubblegum in public. But despite that, the pink cat cared a LOT for Emerald. She wasn't a bad person. Just SOMETIMES annoying.

"Hi Emerald," said Bubblegum.

"How was the police training?" asked Emerald.

"It was good. I passed."

"You did? Can I see your badge?"

"Not yet. I'm only a beginner and only after a few more trainings, I will get my badge."

Emerald squealed. "You did such a good job!"

Happy of what Bubblegum did, Emerald ran and hugged her. Even though Emerald was hugging too hard, Bubblegum wrapped her arms around Emerald.

"I BET your father would be happy for you!" Emerald said.

Bubblegum smiled before looking up. Inside the house, she can see a picture of her younger self with her parents. Her father was a master cop but he had been killed in a terrible incident. Bubblegum's mother passed away after that. Ever since, Bubblegum became Emerald's adopted sister. The main reason why Bubblegum signed up as a police was to follow her father's steps, but she DIDN'T wanted to bring up the topic of her father's passing.

Finally, Emerald let go and saw Bubblegum's sad smile.

"C'mon!" yipped Emerald wanting to lighten up her friend. "Mum and Dad are out so we can go buy dinner ourselves."

Bubblegum nodded slowly and the two went. They headed to Town Square where new trends were shown daily. The buildings lighted up the place like glow worms.

When the two arrived, the Town Square was packed with many people walking in different directions. It was a bit crowded but it was clear to see what was going on. Bubblegum was admiring the place until Emerald grabbed her hand.

"Let's go that way!"

Before Bubblegum say a word, Emerald pulled her and ran to a straight direction. She was very fast that Bubblegum had to drag her sneakers on the floor. That didn't lasted long when the two accidentally bumped into another person causing all three to fall down. The bags that the person was carrying dropped onto the floor spilling many items out.

Bubblegum picked herself up and saw the person they bumped into. It was BELT. Bubblegum recognized the red wolf. They knew each other since Bubblegum and Emerald always saw him coming into the Town Square.

Belt groaned and stood up on his feet. But his glasses fell off so everything for him was blurry. His hands were waving around like how a zombie would do.

"Sorry Belt," said Bubblegum as she picked up Belt's glasses and gave them to him.

"That's ok," said Belt. When he put on his glasses, he noticed Bubblegum's vest. "What's that?"

"That's my police vest. I signed up today."

"I'm surprised. Did you get your badge yet?"

"Not yet but I will soon."

"Heh, not bad."

"Anyway, I'm in the semi-finals for the recent tournament. Want to come and watch me?"

"Um…I'm sorry. I can't come."

To tell the truth, Belt wanted to go but he doesn't feel comfortable bringing his brother Clay along.

"I got to go now," said Belt as he picked up his bags. "See you guys later."

"Sayonara," said Bubblegum.

('Sayonara' means 'goodbye' in Japanese)

Belt turned to leave until….

"SEE YOU LATER MR BEAN!" yelled Emerald.

This caused attention to people around them. They turned to see who's 'Mr Bean'. And that was the red wolf. Belt felt embarrassed. His fur started to turn redder and became a reddish-pink color. He quickly ran and disappeared behind a corner.

Instantly, Bubblegum looked at Emerald.

"You IDIOT, Emerald," scolded Bubblegum firmly. "It's BELT, not BEAN."

Emerald wasn't EASILY hurt by Bubblegum's words. She was used to that and preferred being on the bright side instead of acting negative.

Emerald smiled dumbly. "Oops…me bad."

"It's 'my bad'," said Bubblegum annoyed. "Not 'me bad'."

"Oh…you're right. And…um…what semi-finals are we doing?"

"YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT?!"

Before moving on, the tournaments are huge events for Forest Tournament Town like the Olympics. Teams of 6 players go head to head in many exciting challenges. Some of the challenges are fun but some of them are DANGEROUS. These tournaments happen 2 or 3 times a year and the team who top all of the matches wins. But it isn't only about getting the trophy, it is also about BRAGGING RIGHTS.

Bubblegum and Emerald are in one of the teams; the Blazers. So far, they were no match for other teams who were expert pros. Anyway, Bubblegum was mad that Emerald easily forgotten the tournament they were in.

"Listen up!" said Bubblegum firmly. "We are in the semi-finals for this tournament tomorrow. We had to go against the Death Shockers in a parkour challenge."

"Ooh!" said Emerald excitedly. "That will be fun."

"It won't be. This is SERIOUS. The Death Shockers are our rival and we never won a match with them before."

"But we should just try our best. It doesn't matter about who wins or who loss."

"It does to ME. I like to win, especially when it comes to the Death Shockers."

"You mean us?" said an obnoxious voice.

Bubblegum looked behind. It was the Death Shockers. In front of them was a turquoise bird with brown eyes. He wore black goggles, black finger-less leather gloves, a black shirt with teal arrows, a black and yellow jacket, an army camouflage long-sleeved singlet and jeans, and black sneakers. He also had two long feathers that sticks from the back of his head. They are also the same length as his tail feathers. On his face, there was a small peach scar on the right eye. On his utility belt were small yellow smoke bombs.

"Why isn't it Mecha Nism," Bubblegum said rudely not satisfied to see him. "The bird-brain, four eyed captain of the Death Shockers."

Mecha smirked and said sarcastically, "Oh thank you very much, SOFT kitty."

Just to know, Bubblegum and Mecha had a grudge. Mecha is very smart, strong and powerful. He likes to tease and bully anyone who is weaker than him; mostly Bubblegum and Emerald. Bubblegum and Mecha had a bitter hatred with each other. Mecha makes fun of Bubblegum but these days, they bicker and eventually turns into an ugly fight.

"Don't you mess with her!" said Emerald trying to scare Mecha. "Just today, she became a cop."

Mecha just scoffed. "But where's your badge? A cop couldn't arrest anyone without a badge."

He's right. Without a badge, Bubblegum wouldn't have that much power. But that mocking bird wasn't done yet.

"I hope that your little police training would bring you luck to tomorrow's semi-finals. But I think it wouldn't help you."

"Oh, yeah?" hissed Bubblegum. "We'll see about that!"

"I don't think so. You're just a police rookie and rookies are WEAK. You wouldn't improve."

Bubblegum opened her mouth to say a word when Mecha's phone beeped. Mecha took a look at it then looked back at the pink cat.

"Oh, looken at da timen," said Mecha in an annoying Jar Jar Blinks voice. "Wesa got to go to practicen now. Bye bye!"

Mecha turned his back and went off along with his team. Half of them laughed along with Mecha as they disappeared in sight leaving Bubblegum and Emerald in their spots.

"That stupid jerk…" cursed Bubblegum angrily.

"Hey, I realized something," said Emerald.

"What?"

"The parkour challenge will be based on Jurassic Park, not Star Wars."

Bubblegum slowly looked at Emerald annoyed.

"Really?"

* * *

 **AN: Now here's Belt's bio**

 **Name: Belt Colourz**

 **Age: 16-17**

 **Species: Wolf**

 **Eye Color: Gold**

 **Fur Color: Red (a bit orange)**

 **Skin Color: Light Peach**

 **Quill/Hair Style: Four small tufts of fur sticking from both sides of the head and have white tips.**

 **Attire: Black Rimmed Glasses, Tan Three-Pouched Utility Belt with Strap, Ice Blue Zipless Vest, Ice Blue Gloves with Large Mint Green Rings (one ring on each wrist), Black Pants with Ice Blue Skull Kneecap Pads, Ice Blue/Purple Shoes with Mint Green Buckles**

 **Personality: Caring, Kind, Honest, Short-Tempered, Overprotective, Shallow, Sarcastic (at sometimes), Can Be Ashamed (when his fur changes color), Doesn't like keeping secrets**

 **Trivia**

 **\- Owns a guitar**

 **\- Though he doesn't go to school, he gets education from bought books and textbooks**

 **\- Apparently blind without his glasses**

 **Note: Belt's appearance is similar to the wolf avatar in most of Sonic Forces Promotional Teasers. The only similar features are the glasses (soon), the fur color, eye color (possibly), skin color and the utility belt.**

 **Also, Bubblegum's name is based on the town: Bethlehem. Mecha's name is based on the term: Mechanism. These two are also based from some of the promotional avatars.**

 **...So there you have it. Second Chapter is done. The next chapter is when the drama happens. What would happened to the two wolf brothers that will split them apart and will Bubblegum beat Mecha for once?**

 **Answers will be shown in Chapter 3! See you next week!**


	3. Disaster Struck

**AN: Hi there readers. Chapter 3 is here! This is when the disasters happened.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3 - Disaster Struck**

 **Australia, 28/07 (at 1 am), Third Person's POV**

Belt struggled to have a good sleep. There was this dream he always had and it would never go away. But it was more than just a dream. It was a flashback…

 _"_ _Belt! Get behind me!"_

 _Belt went behind his parents fearing the robot in front of them. It started to move forward._

 _"_ _What are we going to do?" whimpered Belt._

 _"_ _Clay is still in his room," said Father. "We need to get him!"_

 _"_ _I'll distract the robot," said Mother. "You'll get Clay."_

 _Mother looked at the little wolf. "Belt, hide behind the sofa!"_

 _Belt did what his mother told him to do. As Belt quickly hide, Mother went on the left. She called the robot and caught its attention. Father sneaked on the right and headed upstairs. But the robot acted quickly._

 _It shot a beam of laser in front of the father causing him to fall down the stairs._

 _The robots pointed its hands at the parents. Left was Mother and right was Father. It was about to shoot before Belt quickly revealed his hiding place._

 _"_ _STOP!" he cried._

 _But then, Belt accidently made a mint-green ball of energy and it zoomed towards the robot. But it missed and instead hit the oven._

 _KABOOM!_

"NO!" yelled Belt as he quickly woke up from his dream.

He looked around his room. Even though he couldn't see without his glasses, he could tell that it was just another dream.

Putting on his glasses, Belt saw clearly was the picture of his parents on a desk. Slowly, he got out of bed and came close to the picture. He held it up and looked at it for a while.

Tears slowly came down from his face, and he felt more upset. Eventually, he lost it.

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

SMASH!

I woke up to hear a loud smashing noise. I wasn't sure what was going on. Refusing to go out of my room, I listened very carefully. I have a good sense of smell and hearing since I'm a wolf.

The first thing I heard was Belt. He was roaring in anger.

This was then followed by glass smashing. I was shocked to hear what was going on in Belt's room.

Smash.

Roar.

Crash.

Shatter.

Scratch.

More crashing.

Finally, it was silent. Then, all I heard was Belt crying. I was thinking to go see him but I stayed in my spot.

Then, it was all silent for a while until I heard Belt's footsteps and then a door opened. That was followed by the door hatch opening.

Throwing my blankets, I looked out of the window and saw Belt sadly walking away from the tree-house. At first, I thought he was going to the town he usually got our supplies from but he was going in the opposite direction.

On the other side of our tree-house was a tall hill with a dirt track. Belt started to walk upwards before disappearing on top of that hill.

Finally, I decided to talk to him.

I first put on my headphones, necklace, my vest, pants and shoes. I still have my gloves on.

I went outside the treehouse and started to follow Belt's trail. I reached the top of the hill where I then collided with Belt. We both tumbled down the hill before making a stop.

When we got up, I looked at Belt. He was panting so hard, like he was running the whole way back here.

"What are you doing outside here?!" said Belt firmly.

"What are YOU doing outside wandering off?" I said back.

Before Belt can say another word, we heard stomping. At the top of the hill were two robots and they were taller than us.

Scared, I and Belt quickly climbed up to the treehouse with the robots following us. One of them started to climb up and opened the door hatch but we were quick.

We pushed the TV table and put it over the door hatch. That way, they would never get in.

The robot continued to try to break through the entrance. That wasn't good because the door hatch was only made out of wood and it's breakable. So is the TV Table.

"Where do they come from?" I asked to Belt.

"I think they might come from the Eggman Empire," said Belt.

I was shocked. "What does Eggman wanted to do with us?"

"I don't know," said Belt. "But we have to go right now! Get your most important belongings and we'll find a way to get out of this place!"

I ran into my room and grabbed my backpack. I stuffed my clothes and a few other items in until it couldn't carry any more. I even took my energy bars and put them in my right pocket of my vest.

I was ready and was about to go out of the room when I saw Belt's new glasses untouched on the desk. I grabbed them and put them in my left pocket of my vest.

I met with Belt who was staring at the TV desk. We already blocked the door hatch and there was no other way to get out.

"How do we get out?" I asked.

But Belt didn't need to answer because the other robot shot a beam of laser into the house causing a big hole in the house.

"Go through there!" said Belt. "It's our only way out."

I ran towards the hole but quickly stop. It was a long way down. Swallowing my fear, I jumped and landed on the ground hardly. Belt jumped next. Taking my hand, we ran into the forest pursued by the two robots.

"Where do we go now?" I yelled.

"Just keep on running!" Belt said.

We were dashing in the forest, stepping over bushes, plants and broken branches. The robots were behind us and they were fast.

Finally, one of the robots shot out something and it hit Belt.

KAWRAP!

It was a fish net and it covered all over Belt. He was glued to the ground, couldn't get out of the net.

"Clay!" called Belt.

I quickly went to him and was about to cut the net. But I looked up and saw the robots. They were coming in close. My instincts kicked in and I ran. I'd forgotten about Belt.

I wasn't sure where I was going and was running in one direction. There weren't any good places to hide.

One of the robots was coming towards me but it was far away.

RUMBLE!

I heard thunder. Rain was going to come down soon. And there I saw it. There was a big cave which could be the perfect hiding spot. Just before the robot went through the tall bushes, I quickly jumped into the cave and hid behind a wall.

It was dark inside but I have night vision which I could see in the dark. Smelling and hearing the robot scanning the place, I was worried it might caught me in a second. I held my breath hoping for the robot to go away.

Finally, it did. The robot gave up and turned back, disappearing behind the bushes. At the same moment, rain began to pour.

I looked outside and saw little pellets of water dripping on the ground making mud and puddles.

Suddenly, I realised that I had all forgotten about Belt. I left him back and he would be taken by the robots. They might do something to him.

It was my fault.

ALL my fault.

I was RESPONSIBLE for that.

Feeling sad and guilty about Belt, I started to shed tears. Uncontrollably, I wept and tears hit the ground making dark spots.

"Now I'm not going to see him again," I thought as I continued to cry.

I looked outside. Rain continued to pour down heavily and there was no way I'm going outside.

Feeling that I had no choice, I decided to take some rest in the cave until morning. I found an empty cave room that might hidden me away from being seen.

I put my backpack on the floor using it as a pillow and lied down on the floor. I closed my eyes which were still wet from tears.

"Belt's gone. This was all my fault," I thought as I fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

"Oh shoot! Oh shoot! Oh shoot!"

Bubblegum and Emerald were running and they were close to the stadium. They had finished dinner but weren't able to keep track of the time. When they arrived, they got into one of the cafes. That was where their team met up.

"Ah," said a female voice. "There they are."

As soon as the door opened, the rest of the Blazers looked at them. Out of all of them, Tom, the captain, wasn't happy.

Tom is a black cat with purple eye contacts. He wears purple goggles, a yellow hoodie with purple stripes, white gloves with purple flames printed on them and yellow sneakers.

"YOU TWO ARE 5 MINUTES LATE!" yelled Tom like an anime character.

"Sorry," said Bubblegum as she put down her bag. She looked at Emerald and said, "We would be here by 6 'o clock IF you didn't order dessert."

"But I finish all my broccoli and Brussel sprouts," protested Emerald.

"But you couldn't just take an extra treat when we got a match going on!"

Bubblegum and Emerald joined their team and then Tom started to speak.

"Ok, Blazers. This is the semi-finals and we are against the Death Shockers. If we want to beat them, we have to do this challenge without making a flaw. This might be our chance to beat them for once and get into the finals."

"This would be fun," said Emerald.

"No," disagreed Tom. "This isn't a silly game. This is a SERIOUS game. The Death Shockers already beaten us many times and we are going to put an end to that. Now let's go already. The challenge will start in 15 minutes."

The Blazers went outside of the café and headed inside of the stadium. As Bubblegum walked, a yellow female wolf came over to her.

It was Cassie. She has amber eyes, wears a sky blue sleeveless jacket with purple pens printed on it, black shorts and blue shoes.

"Feeling confident about this?" asked Cassie.

"Yeah," said Bubblegum. "Definitively."

"Hey, where did your cop vest go? I thought you were going to wear it today."

True to Cassie's word, Bubblegum dressed differently. Instead of her police vest, she was wearing a black ninja sleeveless robe with magenta linings and dark purple shorts.

"I'm not going to," said Bubblegum. "I might wear it as backup."

Later, all of the teams were in position. How the parkour challenge works is that each team member faces a list of obstacles. When one member gets through, he or she passes a baton to the next member and so on. When the last person gets it, he or she must faces the final obstacles in order to put the baton on a pillar thus declaring the winners.

Bubblegum headed to her spot. It was the last obstacle. In front of her was a large pool. On top, there were sticks hanging by vines. They were few meters away from each other. When it was her turn, she had to swing with sticks without touching the water. If caught in water, she had to start her turn over.

For Bubblegum, it was DEATH. She is a poor swimmer and couldn't get out of water. Even worse, she isn't wearing a life jacket.

She looked on her left and saw Mecha at his place. Even though the teams were separated and on different stages, all the obstacles were the same. She wouldn't be able to beat Mecha in final obstacle.

Mecha turned to see Bubblegum and shaped his hand to an L-shaped meaning 'loser'. This made the pink cat angry and she made a fist.

" _Teams!_ " called through the intercom. " _Get ready to start._ "

The countdown began before the siren went off meaning to start.

The teams were off but it seemed like the Death Shockers were going to win! They were able to make it over the obstacles quickly. At the second-last obstacle, it was Emerald's turn. Her obstacle was a spinning platform with big spikes that could knock her over into the pool.

Emerald took a deep breath and ran over the platform. Her opponent did the same but then….

SLIP! SPLASH!

The opponent fell off! Now he had to start again!

Emerald quickly gave the baton to Bubblegum. "GO!"

With the baton in her left hand, Bubblegum had to use her right hand to grab the sticks. She leapt on one but NEARLY let go.

Meanwhile, Mecha was panicking. "C'MON! Get going!"

His teammate heard him and ran across the platform. On the other side, Bubblegum was swinging from stick to stick. She stopped at one of them, catching her breath. In front of her was the last stick and the pillar. This was her chance to win. Taking a big swing, Bubblegum leapt…

But in slow motion, she could see Mecha jumping from stick to stick without stopping. Mecha looked at Bubblegum and made a nasty smirk. The pink cat looked in front and saw the stick coming into her face. That was the last thing she saw before…

CLONK!

Bubblegum's head collided with the sticks, passing her out. Stars could be seen flying around her head.

SPLASH!

She fell into the water and sunk to the bottom. She was in there for a long time until Tom took her out.

"You ok?" asked Tom.

"I'm…*cough* fine," choked Bubblegum as she spat water out of her mouth.

Then, she heard cheering. It was coming from the other team. Their baton was already on the pillar which declared that they were going to the finals.

Mecha turned around and smugly looked at the Blazers. He blew a raspberry.

Overwhelmed and tired, Bubblegum face palmed with both of her hands and groaned in frustration.

* * *

One hour later, all the people went out of the stadium. There was a stage where the band was about to play. But first, the Mayor announcing important headlines.

Mayor Wills is an orange hedgehog with green eyes and his long quills all ties up with a green rubber band. He wears a white shirt with a green tie, a black leather jacket with green stripes, navy blue jeans and shiny black shoes.

"…so that means that he had to go to jail for 3 years; he'll have to be in court next April…" said Mayor Wills as he read from his sheet. "Now this one is very IMPORTANT so everyone please listen. It's been 6 months since Sonic the Hedgehog disappeared. During his absence, the Eggman Empire took over almost the entire world and just last week, they invaded the whole country of Asia. Few people were lost but most of them survived. At this rate, Eggman Empire would attack Australia soon. This means that tomorrow, everyone needs to head for the safety bunker and the finals for this tournament need to be cancelled. But the world government leaders are trying to find a solution for the war and a resistance team is trying to stop the Eggman Empire. If I wasn't so polite, I would say that it would be too big for the team to solve the war. But in the meantime, just enjoy the party tonight. Everyone needs to get ready by tomorrow morning. Thank you."

Just as the Mayor wrapped up, the band started to play. The people started to enjoy themselves but some of them were talking to each other.

Some of them are worried about the war.

Some of them are disappointed that the finals need to be called out.

Everyone know what was going on…almost everyone.

Just at that moment, Bubblegum and Emerald joined the public. They missed the important news because Bubblegum needed to take a shower. Since her robe and shorts were drenched, she wore her police vest instead.

"This is almost the worst night ever," grumbled Bubblegum.

"At least it was fun, right?" said Emerald trying to lighten her friend up.

"No, not really. We lost against one of the most powerful team again and the captain was a bit disappointed with me. So all that hope was for nothing."

Couldn't bear Bubblegum being upset, Emerald said, "How about we go for some shopping?"

The pink cat shrugged, "Meh,"

The two went. Bubblegum just closed her eyes sadly and walked along. Emerald smiled but it was fake. She knew that they lost but it wasn't worth complaining about it.

They arrived at their favourite mall when they heard a familiar obnoxious voice.

"Hey there, losers!"

Bubblegum opened her eyes and saw who called them. It was Mecha standing near the main entrance, this time without his jacket. But he wasn't alone. Only at that time, he was with one of his team members.

It was Sebastian. He is a lime wolf with a yellow eye on the left and a red eye on the right. He have four quills all combed down. He wears red bandannas on his head, left arm and tail, a navy blue mouth bandanna, a silver metal suit with red linings and the letter 'S' in the middle, navy blue gloves, a utility belt with many small drones and yellow smoke bombs, navy blue jeans and silver boots with red linings. On his back are two shiny ninja swords.

Compared to Mecha, Sebastian was actually nice and talkative but Bubblegum sees him as her 'enemy'.

"You again," hissed Bubblegum.

"Oh hello, SOFT kitty," mocked Mecha.

"Stop calling me that stupid name!"

"Qualunque Cosa." (which means 'Whatever' in Italian)

"You don't know who you're messing with."

"Yeah, but you still don't have the badge yet so I can go off free. After all, you don't look like the perfect cop for the police squad."

"What?! I'm not that bad! I had trained hard you know!"

"Honestly, your experience in the tournament STINKS. Therefore, that can pull you down the leaderboard."

"Well…I'll get better!"

"That would an UNLIKELY chance."

"Well it would be UNLIKELY for you to find a girl with that TYPE of attitude!"

Mecha's smug smile faded to an angry scowl. "Excusez-moi?" (which means 'Excuse me' in French)

"That's true," hissed Bubblegum. "Even though you are so great in everything, you don't know how to show RESPECT to us two girls! So shouldn't you go to a class that teaches about manners? Therefore, you don't know everything."

"I don't CARE!" snapped Mecha. "My popularity is bigger than yours! You don't get many supporters because you just isolate yourself. I don't care who I treat because I'm more popular than anyone here!"

"Just wait until I get my badge! I will arrest and lock you into jail until you die!"

"Yeah? Like when you left your father to die?! That time, it was YOUR fault that cost his life!"

This ticked Bubblegum off.

"THAT'S IT!" yelled Bubblegum.

She started to advance towards Mecha but Emerald quickly grabbed her long tail. Even though Emerald can pulled her, the ice blue rabbit was no much for Bubblegum. The pink cat was slashing her hands in the air. Mecha started to roll up his sleeves and made fists, ready to punch. But to top of that was Bubblegum and Mecha were yelling angry threats at each other.

Holding on for dear life, Emerald looked at Sebastian looking worried about the argument. But how can she blame him? Emerald and Sebastian wanted to make their friends stop nagging at each other but that only made it worse.

Emerald mouthed at Sebastian, "I'm sorry."

But Sebastian wasn't looking at her. He was looking at the sky. What Emerald realized that the lime wolf was worried about something else. Then, a noise filled the air.

"Hmm…" thought Emerald almost letting go off Bubblegum. "That sounds like a bomb is falling from the sky."

That was because there WAS a bomb falling from the sky. It appeared from the clouds and started to fall into the town. Worried, Sebastian called Mecha.

"Captain?"

"WHAT?!" snapped Mecha.

Before anyone said another word, the bomb hit the stadium.

KABOOM!

From outside, there was a big puff of red and black smoke coming from the stadium. The strong force knocked the four down.

When they got up, the stadium was on fire. Many people were running out of the entrance. Mayor Wills, shocked of what just happened, ran to one of the survivors.

"Are you ok?" asked the Mayor to a bear.

"I'm fine," said the bear. "Nobody was killed in that blast."

Suddenly, a buzzing noise filled the air. Everyone looked into the sky and saw a dark creature. The dark clouds surrounded it making it too dark to see how it looked like. Without a word, the dark creature made many red pixel blocks and they flew towards them…

* * *

 **AN: Now here's Bubblegum's bio**

 **Name: Beth 'Bubblegum' Lehem**

 **Age: 14**

 **Species: Cat**

 **Eye Color: Light Navy Blue**

 **Fur Color: Bubblegum Pink**

 **Skin Color: White**

 **Quill/Hair Style: A short ponytail tied up by a purple rubber band**

 **Attire: Spy Tech Ear Piece, Black Police Sleeveless Vest, Black Gloves (Left Glove had the letter 'B', Right Glove had metal spikes on the wrist part), Purple/Black Metal Sneakers with Spiked Shoe Soles**

 **Noticeable Features: A Skull Tattoo with a Red Head Bow on the Left Arm**

 **Personality: Friendly, Caring, Competitive, Short-Tempered, Tomboy, Rude (can call her friends names), Strong-Willed, Lonely, Can act negative at times, Razor-Tongue**

 **Trivia**

 **\- Have acrobatic skills**

 **\- Once broke a window**

 **\- Likes bubble gum sticks**

 **Note: Like what was said in Chapter 2, Bubblegum's appearance is based from the cat avatar in some of Sonic Forces Promotional Teasers. The only differences is that Bubblegum have no quills, wears a vest with the words 'Police' on it, different gloves and different shoes, and have a tattoo. Also, her mouth wasn't shaped like the cat avatars in the game. Her mouth shape is like Sonic's.**

 **...And that is it. Chapter 3 is done. The next chapter will be Clay's first encounter with Infinite and Forest Tournament Town. Comes out next week!**


	4. Up in Flames

**AN: Chapter 4 is here! Hope you enjoy it! You could still write a review on this story but still please no flames. (Note: some of you readers might recognize THIS chapter before if you read it in OCTOBER this year.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 4 - Up in Flames**

 **Clay's POV**

The next thing I knew was that I woke up in a strange world.

When I opened my eyes, something wasn't right. Everything was pitched black.

There was nothing.

No light.

No building.

No color.

No cloud.

No sun.

No moon.

Just a dark world.

Even though I have night vision, I still couldn't see why everything was so dark. The only that was visible was the floor which was grey-coloured.

I stood up and looked around. I called out to see if there was anyone but no response.

It was all silence.

I started to become afraid.

"Don't freak out," I thought to myself. "It is just a dream."

But that didn't seem to cool my nerves down. Before I could do anything, I heard a mysterious low male voice.

" **Hello there….Dark Wolf.** _"_

I spun around. Right in the distance was a strange creature I saw there. It was a black skinned creature with a reddish-purple gem on the chest, long white stiffed dreadlocks and a bushy tail with white tips. He wears black sharp gloves, pointed silver hi-shoes and a silver metal mask. The mask has two large ears and two eyes shaped like lightning bolts. The left one is black and right one is red in color with a yellow eye. I could see a white stripe pattern on his back. I could tell that he is almost the same height as I am.

I was a bit freaked out to see that guy.

"W…who are you?"

" **You may call me…Infinite…** _"_

"Huh?"

Before I could say anything else, he disappeared in a glitch form. In a second, he teleported right in front of me.

I was shocked, "What the-"

My sentence was cut off when he punched me in the face. REALLY hard.

I fell onto the floor.

"Why did you do that for?" I said.

" **Why would I care?** " Infinite said.

He flew slowly up and a crimson aura form around him. Suddenly, red flying pixel cubes formed right behind him. The cubes started to fly at me.

My instinct kicked in once again and I ran. I could hear the cubes flying towards me. I just kept on running, not looking back. But I don't know where I was going. I was just running in a Ziggy-zag line.

And then, they hit me.

ZAP!

I felt an electrical shock on my back. My entire body was stinging with pain.

AWFUL pain.

I screamed and collapsed on the floor. I thought it might go away but it stayed there.

" **Dark Wolf…** "

I tried to get up but another cube hit me in the face.

ZAP!

Another shock and my face hurt so much. I thought my nose was going to bleed. I fell on my back and winced in pain.

" **Dark Wolf…** _"_

Many cubes started to hit me in the chest. This time, it felt much worse than before. The electrical shock still stayed there. I continued to cry in pain.

I tried to get up but I felt so weak. I was only able to get my head off the floor. But when I looked up, Infinite was in my face. He slapped me really HARD.

" **Stop it!** " I growled.

" **You think I will stop?** _"_ said Infinite.

I didn't know where he kicked me but I was filled with pain and my head hit the floor really hardly.

" **You can't stop me now, Dark Wolf** _,_ " said Infinite. " **I will take over your world and teach you FEAR** _._ "

I didn't understand why he kept calling me 'Dark Wolf'. What shocked me was he said he would take over the world.

"What?" I said, trying to get up.

" **The Eggman Empire is now taking over your country and nobody can stop us** _,_ " said Infinite. " **You will be CRUSHED. Our army will outnumbered you and KILL anyone who steps in our way** _._ "

I finally got up but I started to feel strange. I felt darkness.

Real darkness.

Sadness.

Anger.

Pain.

Stress.

I looked at where it was coming from. It was coming from my right hand.

From under my glove, blackness started to come out. It moves out slowly and covers part of my fur.

"What-?" I stammered. "What is this? Is this a disease?"

Infinite just stood in his spot without saying a word. The blackness covered part of my arm up 'till my elbow. Then it kept on moving, reached my shoulder.

I started to growl in pain. It didn't stop. My left arm started to fill with blackness and so did my torso. It was filling up my whole body with mixed emotions. My head started to hurt. I held onto it.

" **This is only the beginning, Dark Wolf** _,_ " spoke Infinite. " **Once you're complete IN real life, you'll be part of mine** _._ "

" **Please…** " I said in my growl voice. " **…no…grrrrrrrr…** "

No longer was my fur turquoise, it's now all black. The blackness started to cover up my head. I continued to growl in pain worrying what would happen next. I felt it rose from my chin to my ears. I could feel darkness covering all over me with many negative thoughts.

The next thing I knew was all dark.

I woke up.

I yelped before breathing heavily and looked at myself. I'm still myself. My fur wasn't black anymore.

I looked around. I was still in that cold cave.

So what happened before was just a dream. Actually, it was more of a nightmare and a mysterious one.

"What that strange creature said, is it going to be true soon?" I thought.

I shuddered in fear. That gave me more pressure.

Suddenly, I felt the darkness again. It was coming from my right hand. But it only stayed there. No blackness covered part of my body.

"Is it really happening or is it just how I feel?" I thought.

Just then, I heard a ding. It was coming from my rings. I looked at the rings on my hands. They were glowing bright yellow.

"That's strange," I said. "This never happened before."

The yellow rings glowed for a while before they stopped. I was surprised about that. I had been wearing these for a long time ever since when I was little and I never took them off. But that was because they would never go off and always be stuck on my hands for an unknown reason.

Suddenly, I smelled something.

I smelled smoke.

REAL smoke.

Along with other stuff.

Ashes.

Flames.

I carried my backpack and went outside the cave.

When I stood outside, the first thing I saw was HORRIBLE.

There was fire.

ACTUAL fire.

On the trees.

On the bushes.

On the grass.

Also, the sky looked different than how it was before.

It wasn't grey and raining anymore.

In fact, it was worse.

It is now a crimson colour with dark clouds and the moon above. I saw smokes coming from the background. I must had slept until night time.

I listened carefully and then, it was way worse.

I never heard this before, buildings falling into pieces.

Explosions.

Loud stomping.

Laser shooting.

But to top all of that was crying, screaming and shouting for help and mercy.

"Oh no," I thought. "What is going on?"

I looked where the noise was coming from. I saw a big smoke in the background. I guessed that was where the noise was from. Without hesitation, I dashed into the forest and head for what was going on there. There was no turning back.

"So what Infinite said," I thought. "Is real…."

* * *

I arrived where the sound was coming from. Stopped on a hill, I saw a town where flames were rising from the burning buildings.

"Is that Forest Tournament Town?" I thought.

It should be. I was surprised how it looked like…..it didn't look pleasant at all. It was just like hell.

Deciding to check the place, I ran down the hill and into the thick forest. I stopped at the town walls. It was red and white but there were cracks and holes in there. I opened the door and went in…

There was nobody there so I looked around. What should be there were supposed to be colorful houses but now, destroyed and in rubble.

As I went further into the town, I heard screaming.

Coming from my left was a group of people about my height running away from something. They ran passed me and I saw robots behind them. They looked like they came from the Eggman Empire. They were bigger and scarier than the ones I encountered before. I shouldn't just stand there because it made me a TARGET.

These robots started to shoot at me but I ran away trying to avoid them. I quickly hid around a corner but not before I was blown by a nearby explosion. I fell onto the ground and felt a nasty stung on my left arm. Unfortunately, there were three bright red scar scratches on my left arm near my shoulder. Ignoring the pain, I continued to run.

I hid myself between two buildings. It was dark and my clothes blended in so I might be safe there. But then I heard a familiar voice…

" **There is no reason to resist. Your saviour is no more.** "

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

I shuddered as I heard the sound of lasers hitting people. The cries from them sounded like horror and pain. Then, it stopped. They are dead. I never heard such pain before. I felt an anger rising through my body but I prevented that from happening.

Looking on the other side, I saw a yellow female wolf running away from something. She tripped and fell on the ground crying. I came in close but did not leave my hiding spot. I saw in front of her was…INFINITE!

" **I can taste your fear, girl,** " said Infinite as he floated in front of her. " **All that anxiety and doubt…it's delicious.** "

I saw behind him were spots of flames with lifeless bodies covered in burnt marks. That must be where he killed some of the innocent people. Anyway, the girl was shivering in fear. Tears rapidly came out from her. Realizing she needed help, I emerged from my hiding spot and stood in front of Infinite.

"Hey!" I called. "Leave her alone, Infinite."

" **How did you know my name?** " said the black creature.

"I…saw you…in a dream…" my voice trailed off.

Infinite looked down which I guessed he must be looking at my rings.

" **I'm not that surprised that you know me, Dark Wolf.** "

"Why are you…?"

Infinite scoffed. " **You are too dumb to know your powers.** "

The black creature started to make a flaming energy ball. He was about to hit me and the girl with that!

Thinking fast, I grabbed the girl's hand and ran away from Infinite. We kept on running and hid behind many buildings.

"How are we going to escape?" I asked the girl.

"There's a bunker near the stadium," she said. "Didn't you know?"

Before I could say that I wasn't from that town, I collided with another person. I fell on my back but my backpack gave me support from being hurt.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" said another female voice.

The person I bumped into helped me got up. It was a pink female cat and behind her was an ice blue female rabbit.

"No time to chatter," said the cat. "We got to head to the bunker NOW!"

Soon, it was the four of us. We were running away from the robots and trying to get to the bunker. Finally, we were near the stadium which was in flames and black marks.

In front was a door hatch and it opened to show an orange hedgehog.

"C'MON!" called the hedgehog. "HURRY!"

The yellow wolf ran quickly and dived into the hatch. I, the pink cat and the ice blue rabbit were way behind. A tall building on the left started to collapse and then fall down...right on top of the door hatch. Quickly, the hedgehog closed the hatch and the building landed with a loud crash.

When the smoke cleared, the door hatch was nowhere in sight. It was under a big rubble of broken bricks and glass. There were too much for us to remove.

"Our only safety is gone…" said the pink cat.

"There must be another way to escape!" said the ice blue rabbit.

"The town entrance! Let's go!"

I followed them behind. Soon, we were near the entrance.

"Finally, we're safe!" yipped the rabbit.

But from the sky, many robots landed in front of us. There must be at least 10 of them.

"Or not…" said the cat.

Just before we started to panic, two people came out and attacked the robots. It was a male bird who have turquoise fur like me, only bluer. The other one was a male lime wolf holding swords in his hands. They jumped on the robots and fought. The bird was punching and kicking the robot like he was a black belt. The lime wolf was swinging his swords cutting the robots in half. Finally, the robots were nothing but a pile of pieces.

"Yeah!" cheered the rabbit. "Thank you so much!"

The bird looked at us and his frown deepened. The cat didn't look happy to see him.

"I thought you would be dead already," she said.

"NO!" snapped the bird. "And I regret what I just did. Who's that kid there?"

I realised he was talking about me. Before I could talk, the bird just rolled his eyes and said, "Spare me the details; we got to go."

And so, the five of us ran out of the burning town and into the dark forest. But that wasn't all; there were robots chasing us.

"They are faster than I thought they would be!" said the lime wolf.

"Keep on running!" snapped the bird.

But unluckily, we hit a dead end. When I meant a dead end, I meant we're DEAD. There was a tall rock formation blocking us and behind us were robots coming close.

"Oh shotgun," said the cat.

The robots took aim and fire…

Or at least I thought. The robots didn't fire because they were destroyed by some kind of lightning bolt. What I knew was that it didn't come from the cloud but it came from the person behind those robots.

Standing in the robots' spot were two people dressed like they came from war though they looked like they're around my age.

The one on the left was a brown orange male cat with dark brown eyes. He wears a light tan soldier helmet, a brown collared shirt with a green small scarf, brown gloves and brown shoes. *****

On the right was a light-grey male wolf with orange eyes and his quills combed to the right. He wears a long French brown jacket, a white shirt, shamrock green finger-less leather gloves, military pants and black boots.

The brown orange cat carried what looked like a weapon in the shape of a yellow lightning bolt. The light-grey wolf carried a teal blaster. Both of them were wearing ear pieces. I was surprised to see them.

"Thank you," said the pink cat.

"No problem," said the light-grey wolf. "Let's get going. We are still in danger."

They led us deeper into the forest and opened some bushes. Right there was a large grey and red fighter plane. On the sides, there were star-like shapes on it. Inside, there were seats which could fit about 9 people. It looked pretty nice.

"No time to lose," said the brown orange cat. "Hop in."

He opened the glass hatch and let us in. The two soldiers took the pilots' seats. The pink cat and the ice blue rabbit sat in one row of seats. The bird and the lime wolf sat in the next row. I sat at the last row.

"Uh oh," said the light-grey wolf. "We got company."

There were robots appearing from every direction coming out of the tall bushes.

"Quick!" called the pink cat. "Fly now!"

The soldiers didn't need to be reminded because they pushed on the accelerator and the plane moved forward…FAST!

BANG!

The plane hit one of the robots, destroying it but leaving a scratch on the plane. But the soldiers didn't mind that. The plane started to lift up, leaving the ground where the robots just stood there.

"Yeah! We're safe," cheered the rabbit.

"But that is just Level 1!" said the pink cat.

"But robots can't fly."

The moment she said that, the robots started to fly. Apparently, they had rocket boots as flames came out from their legs. They floated into the sky before advancing towards the plane.

The pink cat looked at the rabbit annoyed and said, "'Can't fly' she said."

As soon as they were in the air, the flying robots started to shoot at us.

"Does this thing have any weapons?!" squawked the bird.

"I don't think so!" called the brown orange cat. "The weapons are only at the front but there is no way we're going to fight them. We got to get out of here!"

The plane then started to go in full speed, while the robots were still pursuing us. The plane then turned left.

Then right.

Then left.

Then right.

Then another right.

I felt sick. I thought I was going to lose my dinner so I closed my eyes hoping that the plane would slow down soon…

* * *

 **AN: Now here's Mecha's bio**

 **Name: Mecha Nism**

 **Age: 15**

 **Species: Bird (Blue Jay/Golden Eagle Hybrid)**

 **Eye Color: Hazel Brown**

 **Feather Color: Turquoise like Clay's, only bluer**

 **Beak Color: Orange-Yellow**

 **Quill/Hair Style: Two long feathers sticking from the back of the head.**

 **Attire: Black Goggles, Black Fingerless Leather Gloves, Black Shirt with Teal Arrows, Army-Camouflage Long-Sleeved Singlet, Black Utility Belt with Smoke Bombs, Army-Camouflage Jeans, Black Sneakers**

 **Noticeable Features: A small peach scar on the right eye, brown lines on his wrist under his gloves (this shows his hybrid of an eagle)**

 **Personality: Smart, Obnoxious, Rude, Competitive, Persistent, Mean, Argumentative, Brave, Boastful, Grasping, Snooty and Selfish, but despite all of these negative personalities, Mecha can be nice at some times and cared to help others in need. (Also, he had a fear with something but you only have to found out what it is in the next chapter!)**

 **Trivia**

 **\- Have a habit in speaking foreign languages and have an British accent**

 **\- During summer/spring, he wears a dark purple shirt with teal arrows, a black vest and black ripped jeans**

 **\- Likes to use the attack Round-House**

 **Note: Like what was said in Chapter 2, Mecha's appearance is based from the bird avatar in some of Sonic Forces Promotional Teasers. The only differences is Mecha's goggles have a head strap, he wears a singlet and pants instead of a bodysuit and have a scar on his face.**

 ***The orange brown cat has the same appearance as the protagonist in Sonic Forces: Moment of Truth comic!**

 **That's all folks! Chapter 4 is completed! With teaming up with some of the (argumentative) civilians and saved by the Resistance soldiers, Clay would join the Resistance. But could he face the danger and what secret powers does his rings hold? Answers will be given in the next chapter! Until next week, Merry Christmas!**


	5. The Black Squad

**AN: Above 500 views! Thank you so much! You guys rock!**

 **I hope that you had a great Christmas. As a 'present', Chapter 5 is here! (Note: New Wispons are added and the Resistance Squads are named after colours; not animal species)**

* * *

 **Chapter 5 - The Black Squad**

 **Resistance HQ, 28/07**

When I opened my eyes, the plane was in the middle of an ocean, came close to gigantic rocky cliffs. It seemed like we were not in Australia anymore or chased by robots. The sky was fully black with the moon shining in the middle.

"How come we got here so fast?" I thought.

I looked at the time of the plane. It was an hour before midnight.

"We must have been in here for three hours and in that time, I must have been asleep." I thought.

The plane was close to the cliff and then something opened. The wall seemed to move, showing that it was an entrance. The plane got into the entrance and landed inside.

Inside was a large warehouse, with many fighter planes. They were the same appearance as the one we were riding on, except that the red parts were different colors. On the walls were big shelves with different tools and petrol tanks.

The plane came to a halt. The soldiers put the plane to stop and opened the hatch. The white-grey wolf pressed on his ear piece.

"Sir," he said. "We found survivors while we were on our mission in Australia. Should we take them to you?"

" _Yes, Mic. You may._ "

The white-grey wolf, whose name must be Mic, looked at his teammate. "Richard, the commander said that we could bring them in."

"Got that," said Richard, the brown orange cat. "You guys got to come with us. Our leader wants to see you."

They got out of the hatch and went down a long hallway. We were supposed to follow them. As the pink cat and the rabbit got out of the plane, the cat noticed that the rabbit was shivering.

The cat asked, "Are you OK…?"

"THAT WAS SMASHING!" yelled the rabbit in excitement. "This was our FIRST time on a FIGHTER PLANE! That was AWESOME!"

"Yeah…but it would be IF we weren't chased by robots."

As those two headed into the hallway, the bird and the lime wolf got out of the plane.

"Boy," said the lime wolf. "That was fun."

"It seemed to be," said the bird. "Despite being chased by those robots, it was a blast."

They continued to talk and laugh with each other as they headed into the hallway.

I got off the fighter plane and looked around my surroundings. I was all by myself. There was no one else. My mind started to think about the tragedy of losing my brother. If I didn't cowardly run away, my brother would be with me. I felt so alone and bluer. The darkness continued to buzz me in my right hand and stayed right there.

I looked down and did a sad sigh. Just then, I saw the scars I got. They were not red anymore, but now in peach.

I swallowed my guilt and followed the rest of the guys. We kept on going through a long hallway and arrived at a huge metal door. Mic went onto a wall device and typed in what must be the password. The door opened and we went in.

There were many people in there. I never seen a huge crowd like that before. They were doing some work on computer-like holograms until they saw us. In front of them was a red echidna who have red long dreadlocks and bluish-purple eyes. He wears gloves with spikes on them and red, yellow and green shoes. At first, I didn't know him but I had a tingly feeling that I knew those people before.

"Hey sir," said Richard. "These are the survivors we found in Australia."

"Good work guys," said the echidna before turning to us. "Good thing that you're safe. I'm Knuckles, nice to meet you."

When I heard the name, I remembered. Even the others survivors had the same thought I had.

"Knuckles the Echidna!" said the bird. "One of Sonic's allies who helped him."

Knuckles nodded his head. What I realised then was all the people who were working in there were all Sonic's allies except for Richard, Mic and us (the latest survivors).

"So who are you guys? How come you're seemingly the only survivors found in Australia?" asked Knuckles.

I was surprised, we got to introduce ourselves in front of heroes. But I felt very shy.

The pink cat was the first one to speak up, "Um…my name is Beth Lehem. But my friends call me 'Bubblegum'."

"Mm, hmm," said Knuckles.

"This is Emerald," stammered Bubblegum who pointed to the rabbit. "My fri…"

"HELLO!" said Emerald in a loud voice.

Emerald then ran towards Knuckles and shook his hand very fast while speed-talk.

I was surprised of her hyper personality. "Wow, she looks like a Chiwawa on too many sweets," I thought.

I looked at the others. The bird was snickering. The lime wolf looked annoyed. Bubblegum face palmed ashamedly. She went up and dragged Emerald from Knuckles.

"Sorry," said Bubblegum, chuckling weakly. "She's a bit out-of-town."

As Bubblegum dragged Emerald, Knuckles looked at the bird and the lime wolf.

"What about you guys?" he asked them.

"I'm Mecha," said the bird. "And by my side is my right-hand, Sebastian."

Sebastian (the lime green wolf) took off his mouth bandanna and flashed a smile. His fangs were showing. "Sup?"

A pink female hedgehog who has a red dress, red boots and white gloves, named Amy said, "Why is one of your eyes red? Was it..?"

"Don't worry," said Sebastian. "It's not really a threat."

While Sebastian was talking, I saw Bubblegum whispering to Emerald.

"What were you thinking?" Bubblegum hissed quietly.

"But that's the way people greet, isn't it?" said Emerald dumbly.

"It's NOT. It's humiliating."

Knuckles looked at me. "How about you?"

"We don't know him before," said Mecha. "We found him running around in our town."

"Uh oh," I thought.

The reason why I thought that was because I'm not a 'people' person. Even though I stick around with my brother, I couldn't talk to other people. My social skills has always been a concern. I was a bit worried of what I say in front of strangers.

I tried to choke out a word but nothing. I shrugged and looked down at the floor.

"Is that kid alright?" said a white-grey hedgehog named Silver.

"He might be a mute," said a purple chameleon named Espio.

"Or have amnesia," said Richard.

"Maybe he's just shy," said Sebastian.

"He looked similar to someone…" said Emerald who was studying my appearance.

Mecha rolled his eyes. "Anyway, excluding the turquoise wolf, we all lived in the same town. We just got attacked by the Eggman Empire without any warning. Few people are dead but fortunately, many are safely hidden in the bunker. We escaped from the town."

"There was this scary creature wearing a metal mask," said Emerald. "He called himself, 'Infinite'."

"Uh-huh! That's the one who brought Sonic down," said Knuckles.

"What? No way!" exclaimed Bubblegum. "Is that why nobody have seen him?

Knuckles took a deep breath and said, "Yes. 6 months ago, that 'Infinite' guy defeated Sonic. Nobody knew what happened after that because everyone fled for safety. This caused the Eggman Empire to rise and took over the entire world. We formed up a rag-tag team called the 'Resistance' and tried to stop them but no avail, no victory and no solutions."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Bubblegum. "I don't get it. I don't want to be rude but why couldn't you just stop the Eggman Empire in the first place? You guys are some of the greatest heroes on Earth and you could easily stop Eggman."

"That may be true," continued Knuckles. "But Infinite proves too much to the entire world."

"He's right," said Mic in a sad tone. "Many soldiers joined the Resistance to fight but some have been wiped out. We came from the Red Squad and we were the only ones left. The rest of our friends were gone last week."

"I'm sorry about that," said Emerald. "Is there anything we could do?"

Knuckles got an idea. "I got it!"

"What?"

"How about YOU guys help us?"

I was shocked. The same feeling goes for the other four. It was silent until Sebastian spat out, "W-what? Us?!"

"Yes," continued Knuckles. "We need new recruits so we would like you to join us. The world needs heroes and you look like a strong bunch. What do you say?"

I was too shocked to say a word. Joining the Resistance? Saving the world?

The first one to pipe up was Mecha.

"MECH NO MISTAKE!" chirped Mecha in a loud voice. "Every army needs a pro and I'm the pro you're looking for. I have experiences in many fights and weapon skills, so I can take down these Egg-Heads easily. I will join you. Trust me. Du behöver mig." (which means 'you need me' in Swedish)

I had no idea what he meant with that last line. Knuckles just accepted Mecha's offer. "Excellent."

I was surprised of Mecha's superior attitude. He was like Sonic except the fact that he seemingly didn't care about others.

Mecha smirked, while Bubblegum didn't look that satisfied of Mecha joining the Resistance. Emerald, who was next to her, was jumping up and down.

"Are we joining?" she kept whispering. "Are we join…?"

"Yes, we are," Bubblegum said quietly. Then she looked at Mecha and said in a cold voice, "We're joining."

Mecha's smirk disappeared. It became a disgust frown. "What?"

"You heard me. We're not going to let the world suffer. We're joining and that's FINAL."

"OK, then," said Knuckles.

"WHAT?!" snapped Mecha. "You're just going to let these LOSERS in?"

"You can leave if you want to," said Bubblegum.

"Fine then," said Mecha folded his arms and looked the other way. "If joining you guys meant working with them, EVEN IF my LIFE depends on THAT, I'm out."

This time, it was Bubblegum's time to smirk.

"I don't know why," I thought. "But they must have a LOT of bad blood."

Bubblegum looked satisfied. Meanwhile, Emerald didn't smile until she pulled out a LARGE PAIR OF SCISSORS.

"Well if that's the case," said Emerald cheekily. "I guess it's time for your haircut!"

The second Mecha saw the scissors, he freaked out. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY FEATHERS!"

After taking ten quick steps back, Mecha looked at some of the Resistance team. They were snickering and whispering to each other.

Looking back at Emerald, Mecha snapped angrily, "OK! I'll come along but YOU TWO stay OUT of MY way!"

Realizing it was enough to convince that bird, Emerald smiled. But Bubblegum didn't. She did a quick punch in the rabbit's shoulder (but Emerald just smiled) before looking at Mecha. They glared at each other for a moment before looking away.

"Um…" said Sebastian. "I'll help. If Captain Mecha is going, then I will."

Mecha scoffed, his face didn't changed. "Two people each from two rival teams. That's seems fair."

I knew that Knuckles would ask me if I would join or not but why should I? Despite being trained by Belt, my fighting skills still lacked. I wasn't strong or brave enough to face the danger so I might bring the team down.

Thinking about that, I felt so low. I turned to leave but not because I wanted to run away. I just needed to find a place for some alone time. Just before I could make the first step, Knuckles called me.

"Hey, you! You're coming as well?"

I looked back. I sadly shrugged and just said, "Maybe."

I turned around and went straight for the metal door. But then…

TAP! TAP! TAP!

"Emerald!" called Bubblegum. "Don't you d…"

I didn't know what she meant but it was too late. Emerald rushed up to me, grabbed my belt and STRIPPED my pants down.

I stopped. Looking down, I saw my pants touching the ground uncovering my sky blue underpants.

I looked at the people. They were either laughing or looked surprise. Mecha was snickering. Bubblegum face palmed herself with both her hands. Sebastian was surprised. But Emerald was in front of me laughing.

I was ticked off. That really annoyed me. I felt myself shaking, my teeth gritted and something that was coming out of my mouth.

" **Grrrrrrrrr….** "

I growled angrily but Emerald didn't take the hint that I didn't like her stupid prank. I wanted to let her know but I didn't. The last thing I needed to do was to strip her OWN pants down. All I could do was stand there like an idiot. I hate it.

So did Bubblegum. She came up, looking embarrassed, and dragged Emerald away while kept on saying, "Sorry,"

My only response was a quiet growl. Once Emerald was away from me, I grumpily put back on my pants. Knuckles came over to me.

"Are you going to join?" he asked.

" **Ok! Ok! I'll come!** " I barked, too angry to care.

"That's good. Since you didn't tell us your name, how about we calling you 'Rookie'?"

"Huh?"

Knuckles pushed me playfully. I knew that he was strong and I almost fell down. When that happened, I came back to my senses and started to regret what I just said.

Mecha started to snicker again. "That name suits you. You must be weak."

"Shut up, seed-brain," snarled Bubblegum, next to a dizzy Emerald who was smiling weakly and had a LARGE LUMP on her head. "He might have good strengths."

Mecha rolled his eyes in annoyance. I was grateful that Bubblegum stood up for me, but that wasn't all. A young child bee, named Charmy, flew over to me.

"Hmm," he said. His voice was very young. "But this kid doesn't look like much."

I gave him an angry glare. " **Watch it,** " I growled in my head.

"Neither do you, Charmy," said Knuckles. "But I still manage to find a use for this pointy butt!"

Charmy giggled nervously. I shrugged.

"'Rookie' it is," I said to myself, thinking that it would be my name for now on.

"Now we have a group of new soldiers," announced Knuckles. "Let's call you guys…the Black Squad!"

"That isn't a good colour," muttered Emerald.

"But it's always better on black," disagreed Bubblegum.

"We'll give you a few things you would need," said Richard. He and Mic went over to a nearby door and opened it. We, the Black Squad, went in. Inside, was a large table filled with colorful weapons all different shapes. They looked AMAZING.

"One thing you definitely need is Wispons," said Mic.

"Wispons?" said Sebastian confused.

"They're weapons that harnesses Wisps Colour Powers inside them."

"A-ha!" said Mecha. "The Wisps are colorful aliens that have color powers, am I right?"

"I'm surprised that you know," said Richard. He then muttered under his breath, "Smarter than you look."

Mecha didn't heard that.

"Anyway," said Mic. "Take one and try them out."

The four scattered and went around the table looking at the Wispons. Mecha hold up a yellow drill-like weapon. He pressed the trigger and the cone spun. Suddenly, he dashed forward and stopped. Mecha smiled, liking the Wispon.

Bubblegum was looking at the different Wispons until she found a pink one. It was ball-blaster shaped Wispon with spikes on them. She pointed the muzzle at the floor and pressed the trigger. A pink spike ball shot out of the Wispon and bounced on the floor. It disappeared later.

"Heh," said Bubblegum. "I like this one."

Next to her was Emerald, who picked up a Blue Wispon in the shape of a HAMMER.

"What does this do?" she said as she rose it in the air, about to bang it.

"WAIT, NO!" cried Richard.

At first, I thought he didn't want Emerald to break the Wispon but I was wrong. Eventually, when Emerald smashed it on the ground, it caused Bubblegum to be frozen in a blue cube. It didn't took long for Emerald to realise what she had done.

Obviously not wanting ANOTHER lump on her head, Emerald quickly smashed the blue cube freeing Bubblegum.

"I'm sorry, Bubblegum!" Emerald quickly said.

Bubblegum staggered around not knowing it was Emerald's fault. "What just happened?"

At the end of the table, Sebastian picked up a Green Wispon which had a few bubble shapes on it. Decided to try it, he pressed the trigger and a huge shock-wave came out of the muzzle. This caused the weapons in front of him blew away and flew towards ME.

BANG! CLASH! BONK!

They hit almost every part of my body. I think I got hit in the nuggets as well. As the damage was done, my body was in pain.

Mecha was behind me, laughing at what he saw. I didn't need to react because a Blue Wispon unexpectedly fell on his head.

CLONK!

The hammer hit Mecha so hard. He groaned in pain and rubbed his head. Sebastian guiltily smiled. "Sorry…"

I said nothing. In front of me was an interesting looking Wispon. It looked like a laser gun and was in a perfect turquoise colour. I stared at it for a while and I picked it up.

Not to risk using it on anyone, I asked, "What is this one?"

"That's a Cyan Laser Wispon," said Richard. "It can shoot out beams of lasers."

"It's more like a Turquoise Wispon."

"Yeah, but it looks nice. It even suits your appearance."

I tried to break a smile but I couldn't. I just shrugged and hold onto the Cyan Wispon. Ever since the attack at the town, the smile on my face had disappeared. I was still in a negative mood since I lost Belt.

"Can't wait to blast those robots with this!" crowed Mecha as he continued to play with it.

"You get to keep those Wispons for free. However, the rest of new ones will come with regular prices. Here are a few more items you need," said Mic as he went to a small table.

He picked up a few small gadgets and handed them to us. "These are grappling guns. They can help you go faster or reach a tall height."

I put mine on my right arm. It seemed to be tight but I didn't care.

Mic then grabbed some ear pieces and handed them to Mecha, Emerald and Sebastian. "These are for you to contact us. We'll call you if there is anything wrong."

Mic looked at me and Bubblegum. "Can I borrow your ear pieces?"

"Ok," said Bubblegum as she handed her ear piece to Mic. "But don't break it."

I gave my headphones to Mic as well. He pressed a few buttons on them before returning them to us. "Now you could contact us because I have connected them to the Resistance radio."

"I guess you guys are prepared," said Richard. "You just have to wait for a while to know what your first mission is."

It didn't take long when Knuckles called us to come.

"I've just received some incredible news from the Yellow Squad!" he said. "Sonic is alive!"

"He is?!" exclaimed Bubblegum.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Amy shouted excitedly. "I knew it! I knew it!"

"Where is he?!" cried Emerald.

"He's captured in Death Egg," continued Knuckles. "Apparently, he's in a solitary confinement cell and they've been torturing him for the past 6 months."

"That's horrible!" said Amy. "We have to rescue him!"

"Plan's already happening," said Knuckles before turning to us. "Black Squad, Richard will take you to the Space Port at the Chemical Plant. You need to 'borrow' a shuttle and fly to the Death Egg to free Sonic."

"Can't we just use one of the fighter planes we have?" said Emerald.

"No. They are not strong to go into space. Plus, the Death Egg doesn't allow anything that aren't from the Eggman Empire in. C'mon, guys. Who's up for an old-school style jail break?"

My squad cheered in response. I just stayed quiet.

"But you aren't going in alone," said Knuckles. "The Choatix will come along with you."

I looked at my right and saw the Choatix; Espio, Charmy and Vector, a large crocodile.

"The fighter plane's ready," said Richard. "I'll take you there."

"Let's go," said Vector in a loud voice but not before Mecha ran off, heading for where the fighter plane was.

"C'mon, slow coaches!" chirped Mecha. "We got a mission to do!"

"Hey!" screamed Bubblegum. "Wait up!"

"Why? You got gum stuck on your shoe soles?"

"It's not that! Slow down!"

As Bubblegum caught up with Mecha ran across the hallway, the others joined. I watched as they filled up the room and I'm the only Black Squad soldier to come out last. I left my backpack on a wooden box. Just before I went out of the room's entrance, Amy called me.

"Rookie? What's that on your shoulder?"

She was talking about my scars.

"It's just a scratch," I said. "I hurt myself during the town attack."

"Is there anything wrong?" she asked. "You don't look that happy."

"I'm fine. I'm fine," I quickly said as I went out of the door.

I really wanted to tell the Resistance of my brother's disappearance. But it would hurt so much if I do. Plus, it would be TOO LATE now if I told them about the time when Belt was gone.

"Maybe I could find him during the mission," I thought as I went through the hallway. "Don't worry, Belt. I'm coming for you."

* * *

 **Chemical Plant, 29/07**

It was already 2 am but the sunrise was far away. Dark cloud was still covering the sky. My squad were running through a large factory. It was significant.

There were big pipes.

Tall towers.

Large gears.

New and old inventions.

But there was no time to look around. As we ran, someone called over.

" _Espio, here. My team's engaging the enemy in the orbital tunnel. I think we can hold them out for now. Continue to find that shuttle and we'll distract the enemies._ "

As he held up, we saw a few robots on a platform. This was our first time using our weapons on enemies. Probably, Mecha's first time.

"That one there is mine!" he called.

Mecha jumped high and he was flying!

I was confused at first. Even though he's a bird, he doesn't have wings! But I saw his hair feathers twirling around like a helicopter so he used them to help him flew.

I started to think, that's why Mecha didn't want a haircut from Emerald.

He then made an eagle cry, fell down and advanced towards the robot below him. I was looking in awe when I accidently pressed the trigger of my Wispon.

ZAP!

A beam of turquoise laser shot out and zapped the robot.

KABOOM!

The robot exploded into pieces. Mecha landed on the spot where the robot was USED to be, looking confused.

I was too shocked to see what happened. I looked back at my Wispon and broke a smile. Nobody saw that of course.

"Heh," I chuckled. "I like this thing."

"Oi!" Mecha screeched angrily. "YOU STOLE MY SHOT!"

Quickly, my smile turned into a serious frown. "Geez! This is a dangerous mission, NOT a competition!"

"Hey!" piped Emerald. "That rhymes!"

I rolled my eyes and went on. I started to get use with the Cyan Wispon. I shot as many robots as I could. Bubblegum shot spike balls at her enemies. Emerald smashed as many as she could and also froze her enemies in blue cubes. Sebastian used his Wispon too, but mostly his swords and smoke bombs.

At one point, Sebastian's drones from his belt glowed and started to fly. Then, they shot red small beams of lasers at the robots. Interestingly, when the drones were active, his red eye was glowing.

"How come…?" I asked after he finished them off and got back his drones.

"It's a mechanical eye," he said pointing to his red eye. "It's useful."

The person who destroyed the most robots was Mecha. He suddenly became an expert in Wispon weapon because he dashed and destroyed many robots.

When the damage was done, we continued to search for that shuttle. There was a hanging platform and a few kilometres away, was a railway.

"Shortcut!" called Mecha.

He jumped off the platform and flew forward to a faraway platform. Bubblegum, Emerald and Sebastian used their grappling guns and flew towards the faraway platform. I quickly stopped running, as almost fell off. It was a long way down. I felt scared but there was no time. I aimed my grappling gun at where the faraway platform was…or at least I thought.

WHOOMP!

The hook hit a railway headlight and I was pulled towards the railway. TOO FAST! At that moment, a freight train appeared from a tunnel. I cut off the cable of my grappling gun but it was too late. I was flying towards the train. Luckily, I grabbed the side of one of the cargos and picked myself onto the top. But the train was about to go into another tunnel and the wall would hit me.

Thinking fast, I jumped over the tunnel and landed on the railway. Unluckily, another train was coming…and it was about to hit me.

"ROOKIE!" cried Bubblegum. "GET OUT OF THERE!"

I was too scared to move. The train was approaching closer. I quickly put my hands over in front of my head and prepared for the death of being hit by a train…

SHINE! CRASH!

But that didn't happen. Instead, I heard the noise of a train crashing before a dead silence. I opened my eyes and saw this: a large yellow shield over me with a train destroyed, blocked by the shield.

The shield flickered before disappearing. I was shocked.

"How the heck did that happen?" I said almost choking.

I quickly used my grappling gun to join the rest of the Black Squad. They were shocked as I was.

"What was that?!" said Emerald.

"Um…" I sputtered. "I…don't….k…"

"We'll talk about it when we get into the shuttle," said Sebastian. "For now, we have to find it."

We continue to run. I couldn't stop thinking about what just happened.

Where did that shield come from? How did it happen?

Finally, we arrived. We looked from a high platform and saw many launch pads. There was only one shuttle and it looked like it could hold many people in there.

"There it is!" exclaimed Emerald. "Just what we need!"

The Black Squad hopped off. I jumped off the platform last and landed on the ground.

Right on top of Bubblegum.

CLONK!

I landed on her so hard that her face-first hit the ground. I got up and so did she.

"You idiot!" she snarled. "Can't you land somewhere else?"

"I didn't expect that," I said.

Just then, the Choatix arrived panting.

"Alright, Black Squad!" called Espio. "Get into the shuttle."

Mecha ran towards the shuttle and opened the door. We all filled the shuttle. Closing the door behind him, Mecha ran towards the pilot's seat.

"How come there is only one?" said Emerald.

"Who's cares?" Mecha said.

"Do you know how to fly?" asked Vector.

"Trust me! I'm a professional."

Bubblegum rolled her eyes. Mecha pressed a few buttons before holding onto the wheel. "We are taking off."

He steered the shuttle to a launching ramp. He started up the engine.

Sebastian said, "Where are the seat-b….?"

Before Sebastian could continue, Mecha put the shuttle in FULL SPEED. The shuttle rushed over and flew after jumping off the ramp. As the shuttle flew through the dark cloud, I realised something. I was still standing on the floor and not pinned against the wall.

"Wait a minute," I said. "How come…?"

And that was the moment when gravity took place. This caused me to be pinned against the wall. Bubblegum flew towards the door window, pressing her face hard. Not only that, the others flew to where Bubblegum was, squishing her against the door.

Meanwhile, Sebastian was holding onto one of the control panel with Mecha in his seat. Finally, the shuttle was already in space. Mecha pressed a button and thankfully, I was able to stand on the floor. The rest fell into a big pile with Bubblegum's face glued on the door.

When she became unstuck, she looked at Mecha and said, "Why didn't you press that button in the first place?"

Mecha just shrugged and pressed a few more buttons. He then went out of his seat and said, "The shuttle is on autopilot and heading to Death Egg. It would take only a few minutes to get there."

" _Great work, Black Squad,_ " said Knuckles over the radio. " _A bit nasty though._ "

"Now let's talk," said Sebastian looking at me.

"Talk about what?" I asked.

"About what happened back there. About the big shield that protected you."

"Wait," said Espio. "What?"

"A yellow shield went over him when a train was about to smash into him," said Bubblegum. "It appeared out of nowhere. Do you know?"

"I don't know where it came from," I said.

Suddenly, my rings glowed for the second time.

"I think it came from there," said Mecha pointing at my rings.

"That can't be possible," I said as I looked at my glowing rings. "I wore this for a long time and they never make this strange thing before."

Mecha looked at it with his hand touching the tip of his beak, "Hmm…the colour, the glow, the pattern, the power…"

(There's a swirl pattern on mine and Belt's rings)

The bird shook his head. "I can't seem to figure out what they are,"

"And therefore you call yourself a 'genius'?" said Bubblegum.

Mecha snapped, "Damare." (which means 'shut up' in Japanese)

He then looked back at me, "I don't know what type of rings they are but they might be useful. They hold great powers."

"Huh?" I said confused.

"Observe."

He stroke one of my rings and a yellow energy ball appeared from the palm of my hand. I was shocked.

"Woah!" said Charmy. "That's incredible!"

"Holy shogun!" cried Emerald.

Finally, the energy ball disappeared. Mecha looked back at me.

"I am guessing that those rings support you. They can make these energy balls, shields, the power of force and speed."

"Such magic," I said looking at my rings.

Mecha turned his back and head to the pilot's seat.

"You're still a WEAK WOLF," he said coldly. "But you DO have interesting powers."

I stayed quietly.

Mecha was right. I'm weak but I do have interesting powers. I could try them out and learn these secret weapons. I am guessing that is how my life would be from now on.

* * *

 **AN: Now here's Emerald's bio**

 **Name: Emerald Stone**

 **Age: 13**

 **Species: Rabbit**

 **Eye Color: Emerald Green**

 **Fur Color: Ice Blue**

 **Skin Color: White**

 **Quill/Hair Style: TBA**

 **Attire: Yellow Jacket with Aquamarine Stripes, Blue Top with Purple Polka Dots, White Gloves with Pink-Gold Bracelets, Purple Skirt, White Ripped Jeans, White Shoes with Pink Hearts**

 **Personality: Naive, Optimistic, Annoying, Dim-Witted, Friendly, Forgetful, Loud, Excitable, Resilient, Energetic, Sassy, Cheeky, Prefers to be on the positive side, Wishes for peace**

 **Trivia**

 **\- Her favorite food is pickled eggs and carries a jar along much to her parents' embarrassment**

 **\- Barely wore ANYTHING black, even wearing the black parts that CANNOT be seen**

 **\- NEVER ashamed of the stupid things she did...except for trying to style her floppy ears which Bubblegum offers to help much to Emerald's denial**

 **Thank you for reading this chapter. Sorry if it's too long! Anyway, I'm going on a trip so the next chapter will be released next fortnight. Have a happy new year and enjoy the fire works!**


	6. The Blue Hedgehog

**AN: Hey there my rock 'n' rollers! Finally in 2018. I hoped that you have a good 2017. Let's make this year better.**

 **I got back from my trip. I'm also back with my new chapter. (Note: Classic Sonic will NOT appear in this story. Sorry. I like it better when using Modern Sonic on 2D and 3D platforms. Also, San Francisco is the City Setting of this story.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 6 - The Blue Hedgehog**

I was stunned of how space looked like. I watched many sci-fic movies but this was REAL. It was a spectacular site. From outside the window, I saw the black background with white stars dancing around and planets spinning slowly like basketballs. Finally, we arrived at the Death Egg.

It was a gigantic metal ball with eyes and the mustache representing Eggman's face.

"It looks like the Death Star," said Emerald. "Only uglier."

Bubblegum chuckled when Emerald said that. Mecha flew the shuttle into the Death Egg and we were able to get through without any suspension. Mecha landed the shuttle in a nearby shuttle stable and put it in stop mode.

"Ok," said Espio. "We have to find Sonic. Apparently, he's going to be banished into space soon. We got to save him before it's too late."

"Yep," said Mecha as he pulled out a tracking device. He pressed on it but the tracking device wasn't working. He gave it a short hit before giving up. "The connection here is bad. I can't find where Sonic is. It would take a long time to look for him in this place."

"Maybe we should split up?" suggested Bubblegum.

Mecha nodded his head surprised but did not smile. "Something smart came out of your mouth for once. I agree."

"Let's go already!" yipped Charmy.

"No," said Vector. "You got to stay here."

"Why?!"

"You're too young to go by yourself. You have to take care of the shuttle."

Bubblegum cleared her throat. "Ahem. Charmy AND Emerald will take care of the shuttle."

"Why? What's the problem?" asked Emerald.

Bubblegum gave Emerald a sharp look. "Because I don't want you to be killed when going off by yourself like the last time you went into the forbidden cave and came out with your pants on fire."

"Oh…" said Emerald dumbly. "I don't remember but good point."

Mecha opened the door and checked for any enemies. The coast was clear.

"The first one to find Sonic will be the champion!" teased Mecha.

"It's on!" said Bubblegum wanting to take the bet.

"Wait!" called Espio.

Too late. The two ran out of the shuttle and went in different directions. I shrugged and went my way.

* * *

My first mission was like a spy mission I saw from spy movies. Except the fact that the spy mission was much longer than it should be.

I was using my sense of smell and hearing to track down Sonic but it was hard. I ended up going to different rooms so maybe Sonic was rushing all over the place.

With my hood over my head, I was able to quietly sneak through the Death Egg without being caught. But I started to feel strange. I couldn't stop thinking about Belt and I thought that he might be in the Death Egg. I realised that I was trying to find him instead of Sonic.

Along the way, my head felt heavy. I was a bit dizzy. My vision was a bit blurry. I stopped at a corner to take a quick rest. Suddenly, Knuckles called me.

" _Rookie, did you find Sonic yet?_ "

"No, sir. Not yet. I couldn't find him and…uh…" I said. My voice trailed off.

I felt something in my lungs that I couldn't hold on.

" _Was there anything wrong, Rookie?_ "

I groaned and I couldn't help it but did a small howl. I felt like I was calling to Belt, if he was around. It felt weird because I didn't howl for so long. Finally, I quickly covered my mouth and took a deep breath.

" _Are you ok?_ " said Knuckles.

"I'm ok…" I said feeling embarrassed.

" _Why did you do that?_ "

"I…um…I don't…know. I just felt like to."

I continued to move on. At one point, I was nearly seen by a robot. I quickly hid behind a wall the second I saw it. Luckily, the robot didn't see me. It went passed me and kept on walking. It was carrying a box with something inside. Something fell out of that box and landed on the floor.

When the robot was looking the other way, I sneaked quietly and picked the mysterious object up. It was a grey gem. But interestingly, when I picked it up, it glowed a red color.

"Hmm," I said. "What does this do?"

I put the gem in my pocket and followed the robot. It went into a room and I quickly got in before the door closed. I hid behind a cargo and took a peek.

I was stunned.

There were gems, like the one I picked up, being created and in big water tubes. There must be a thousand of them. Taking a peek on the left side of the cargo, I saw Eggman. He was looking at the gems being made.

"Perfect!" he laughed evilly. "Now, I'll be able to make better prototypes of the Phantom Ruby!"

"Phantom Ruby?" I thought. "What's a Phantom Ruby?"

Suddenly, a small robot went up to Eggman.

" _Sir,_ " said that little robot.

"What?" said Eggman annoyed.

" _I lost my CD player. Do you know where is it?"_

"You don't need a CD player, Orbot! Why in the world would you need one?!"

Eggman must be holding something but I couldn't see. I went a bit closer to get a better view and then…

CLICK!

I stepped on the CD PLAYER.

It started to play horrible music. This caught Eggman and Orbot's attention. They both looked at me. I walked backwards and accidently hit something.

BEPP! BEEP! BEEP!

Red lights flashed all over the place. Sirens could be heard. I pressed the ALARM CALLER.

" _Hey_!" said Orbot. " _That's my CD player. And is that wolf green or blue?_ "

"STOP HIM!" snapped Eggman.

My instinct kicked in and I dashed out of the lab. Lights continued to flash and the siren didn't stop. I heard the robots coming.

" _Why are there bright lights and scary noises?_ " said Sebastian over the radio.

"Um…" I said. "I accidently triggered the alarm…"

" _YOU DID WHAT?!_ " shrieked Bubblegum.

" _Thanks for nothing, Rookie!_ " snapped Mecha. " _If we left you back at the shuttle, NONE of THIS would have happened!_ "

I felt hurt. I screwed up. Big time.

I ran across the hallway and hid behind a wall. Unfortunately, a robot was there. Shocked, I fell on the ground and lost grip of my Wispon. More robots appeared, pointing their arms at me, about to shoot. I desperately tried to grab my Wispon but it was too far away. They were taking aim. I was trembling in fear. I was about to raise my hand up to make a shield until…

ZOOM! SMASH! BANG!

A blue ball appeared dashing and destroyed the robots quickly. It landed in front of me and it was SONIC!

The blue hedgehog with green eyes, wears white gloves and red/white shoes, reached his hand out to me.

"Sweet," he said as he helped me get up to my feet. "Everything's sweet. Are you here to rescue me?"

"Yeah…" I said awestruck.

It was a bit awkward because I was supposed to SAVE him when he already SAVED me.

"Can't tell you how much I appreciate it," smiled Sonic. "It's been a while since I've ever seen a friendly face despite your scary look."

That's true. I still got my fangs showing even when my mouth was shut.

Just then, I heard footsteps. But I could tell that it wasn't the robots because they would be stomping loudly. There were Bubblegum and Mecha. Bubblegum was running from the left and Mecha was running from the right. Since they weren't looking in front, they ended up with a head collide.

CLONK!

They both fell down. Even their Wispons flew in the air and hit Mecha on the head.

DONK! TONG!

"Ow!" groaned Mecha.

Then, Sebastian came over and saw Bubblegum and Mecha lying on the floor. He looked up and saw Sonic in awe.

"Finally!" he said happily. "We found you."

" _Rookie,_ " said Knuckles over the radio. " _Are you still in one piece?_ "

"Oh sure," said Sonic sarcastically. "Don't even bother to ask how I am."

" _SONIC!_ " yelled Amy in excitement, making me cringe. " _I'm so glad!_ "

Bubblegum and Mecha got up on their feet, surprised to see Sonic.

Bubblegum looked at Mecha expressionless and said, "For once, we both lost."

Mecha gave me a glare and muttered something in Chinese.

"Where's the exit?" asked Sonic.

"There's a shuttle that we stole," said Mecha. "Let's go already."

* * *

"START THE SHUTTLE!" cried Bubblegum as we head into the shuttle stable. "START THE SHUTTLE!"

Emerald saw us through the window. Hearing Bubblegum's command, she went to the control panel and pressed a button.

BOING!

The ceiling window opened. The pilot's chair bounced out of that window and landed beside the shuttle.

"Why did I leave you back in there?" cursed Bubblegum.

At the same time, the Choatix came out from another door.

"Eggman's coming!" called Espio.

"Get inside!" I shouted.

We went inside and Mecha went to where the pilot's seat USED to be.

"Gosh, dang it!" squawked Mecha since it would be hard to drive without a seat.

Quickly pressing a few buttons, the shuttle started up. Mecha was able to get the shuttle out just in time before Eggman came.

"That was too close," said Emerald as she looked at the Death Egg as the shuttle flew away.

Bubblegum punched me in the shoulder. "And it was all thanks to you!"

Emerald turned her head. "Leave him alone. The rookie is still learning. Everyone has to learn."

Bubblegum snorted. "Yeah. Now that IDIOT learnt that it's a dumb idea to set off the alarm."

I shrugged sadly. I felt hurt and wished that I could disappear.

"Don't be that harsh," said Sonic. "Let's just say that it was nobody's fault."

Bubblegum sighed, "Fine."

I silently sneaked over to a corner and stood there. I just need some time alone. Meanwhile, the rest of the Black Squad were talking to Sonic.

"Let's get to know each other since it's a long way back to Earth," he said. "You know who I am right?"

"Yes!" yipped Emerald. "You are the saviour of the world!"

"Anyway, what about you guys? Who are you? What's your favorite color? What music do you like? What's your favorite food?"

Sonic was talking so fast that the Black Squad couldn't keep up with those questions. Eventually, Bubblegum spoke first.

"Um…" said Bubblegum. "My name is Beth but my friends call me 'Bubblegum'. I like the color black, I like kawaii metal music and I like bubble gum."

"My name is Emerald!" said Emerald, annoying Bubblegum. "I like bright colors, pop music and pickled eggs."

"What the heck, Emerald?!" hissed Bubblegum. "When in the world do you like pickled eggs?"

Mecha said, "My name is Mecha. I like the color yellow, EDM and I'm on a strict diet."

Next was Sebastian. "I'm Sebastian. I like any color, hip hop and fast food."

"What about this kid?" asked Sonic pointing to me.

I didn't looked up.

"That's Rookie," said Bubblegum. "We called him that because we don't really know him before."

"He has amazing powers!" said Emerald.

"Does he?" wondered Sonic.

"But he's weak," snickered Mecha.

Ignoring Mecha's rude comment, Sonic came up to me. The rest of the Black Squad went on with their own business but Bubblegum stood in her spot, looking at me and Sonic.

"Hey there," said Sonic smiling.

"Hey," I said.

"So 'Rookie', do you have a name?"

"Um…I don't have a real name," I said uncomfortably, not wanting to talk but trying not to be annoyed.

"C'mon, you have a real name, do you?"

"I don't have one. That's all, nothing more."

"You're sure?"

"It's just 'Rookie'. Ok? Just call me that." I said in frustration.

"See? Now we are able to get to know each other! What's your favorite color? What music do you like? What's your favorite food? Do you like long romantic beach walks? Do you have a crush? What's the source of your power…?"

" **Grrrrrrr…** "

I growled angrily at Sonic. That was able to keep him quiet. I put my hood over my head, closed my eyes and looked the other way.

Sonic was about to say a word when Bubblegum said, "Just give him some time alone."

Sonic didn't listen. But before he could do anything else, Bubblegum pulled him away.

" **Fine then,** " I growled in my thoughts. " **I don't care.** "

I didn't mean to be rude to Sonic but I wasn't comfortable talking and sharing my feelings. I was too upset about how I almost failed the mission.

"Why couldn't I just say that I need space?" I thought sadly.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

Bubblegum pulled Sonic away from Rookie but when they reached the control panel, Sonic pushed away Bubblegum's hand.

"Why did you do that?" said Sonic.

"Can't you see? Rookie needs some time alone," said Bubblegum.

"When did you have feelings for him?"

"I didn't mean to call him an idiot. I was upset that he almost cost us the mission. But now, he is the one upset."

"Maybe you were too hard on him?"

"Could be. But there might be more reasons."

"Why?"

"When I first met him, he was shy, miserable and quiet. He wasn't smiling the whole time. I'm not sure but I think something happened to him. He kind of reminds me of how I was."

"Should we ask him?"

"We should. But for now, let's give him time. When he's ready, he'll tell."

* * *

 **Clay's POV, Resistance HQ, 29/07 (at 5 am)**

The time we arrived back, the sun started to rise from the horizon. As Mecha landed the shuttle, Mic and Richard arrived at the same time.

We went out of the shuttle with Mic and Richard in front of us.

"Well down, Black Squad," said Richard. "You did well on your first mission."

"It's an honour to meet you, Sonic," said Mic trying to act cool.

"I think I saw you two before," said Sonic.

"Wait, you did?" asked Emerald.

"Before Sonic disappeared, he saved us from Eggman's robots," explained Richard.

"I'm surprised to see the famous hedgehog again," said a female voice.

Mic and Richard looked around and saw someone at the hallway. It was a mint green female hedgehog with teal eyes. Her quills were a tangled mess like she just got out of bed. She has an army camouflage singlet, black finger-less gloves, black ripped pants and black boots. She is heavily armed with a strap on her body filled with small bombs, a small dagger strapped to one of her boots and was holding an Indigo Wispon (in the shape of an asteroid).

Both Mic and Richard were shocked. They ran up to her.

"Minty?!" squeaked Richard in excitement.

"We thought you were dead!" cried Mic.

"I thought YOU were dead!" said the mint green hedgehog.

"Who's she?" asked Bubblegum.

"This is Minty Thinson," said Mic in joy. "A friend of ours."

"Is she part of the Red Squad?" asked Mecha.

"Yep,"

"I see that there's a new squad and the blue hedgehog here," grinned Minty.

"Is there any more survivors from the Red Squad?" asked Richard.

Minty frowned sadly and said, "No. I escaped the blast. The rest of them were burnt to ashes. One of them saved my life by standing in front of me and got shot by Infinite… It was horrible. I can't believe it but they're gone."

Mic and Richard looked disappointed. I felt sorry. I could imagine how the scene was. Especially when watching friends die. Minty then looked at Sonic and said, "Sonic, I may or may not found a friend of yours."

"Who?" asked Sonic.

"I'll show you."

Minty took us to the Headquarters room and Sonic was surprised who he saw. It was Tails. A young yellow fox with two tails and blue eyes. He wears white gloves and red/white shoes.

"Sonic!" he exclaimed happily as he flew to him.

"Tails!" said Sonic.

"I was so worried. I thought you were…"

While those two were talking, I noticed that there were more Resistance Soldiers there. They came from other squads. I sneaked over to a corner so that nobody could see me.

"The good news is, you're safe!" said Tails. "The bad news is that Eggman had a plan that would destroy us all."

"Wait a minute," said Bubblegum. "Did you say…?"

"Yes he did," said Minty. "Yesterday, after I rescued him from being attacked, we spied on Eggman and heard his plan. Apparently, he is wielding a powerful UNLIMITED gem called the Phantom Ruby. He was planning to use it not only to kill us, but everyone in this world!"

"What?! When?" cried Sebastian.

"He said that it will be three days 'till it happens," said Tails. "But that was yesterday so now we have two days left."

My jaw dropped. The Phantom Ruby? End of the world? In two days? What even surprised me more was that in two days, it will be Belt's birthday. So it would be his 17th and his LAST.

Sonic just smirked. "Two days, huh? A lot can happen in that time!"

"But…" stammered Bubblegum. "THAT WON'T BE ENOUGH TIME! We might not stop Eggman!"

Mecha snickered. "Calm down, SOFT kitty. You're just being a scaredy cat."

Mecha laughed and Bubblegum gave him a glare. But that wasn't all. She even realised that Minty and some of her friends were whispering and snickering to each other, probably gossiping about Bubblegum.

Oh boy. The pink cat must felt hurt. She looked upset that nobody believed her. I couldn't just let her be by herself EVEN THOUGH she called me an idiot.

"I have to agree with Bubblegum," I said finding my voice. "Two days is NOT ENOUGH. We still have many survivors out there who need help while we have to try to stop Eggman from succeeding his plan. Who knows how long it would take to fix these two problems? We might not make it."

"Don't worry," said Sonic. "There'll be time."

"I'm with Sonic," yipped Emerald. "If we work together, we win. Am I right?"

Bubblegum started to smile. "Yeah…you're right."

Though I didn't smile, I was proud of myself for standing up for Bubblegum and she regained hope. But Mecha had the opposite effect because he just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Suddenly, a live record video appeared on the biggest monitor. It showed a dog soldier hiding behind a building.

" _This is the captain of Lime Squad,_ " said the soldier on the monitor. " _I got trouble in San Francisco._ "

"What is it?" asked Knuckles.

" _During our mission in trying to save survivors, my entire squad got wiped out. I also found Shadow flying through the city._ "

"The last time I saw Shadow was him joining the Eggman Empire. Why is he doing this?" said Sonic.

" _I don't know. I need another squad to take over and rescue the poor civilians ASAP. Shadow might destroy them._ "

"Don't worry," said Knuckles. "The Black Squad will come over and help you. For now, head over to the airport where the other survivors are."

" _Ok, then. But please hurry."_

The call was cancelled. The monitor flickered.

"Sonic," said Knuckles. "I want you to go to San Francisco and help save the civilians with the Black Squad. You take the lead."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Espio.

"The Black Squad are doing alright. It just their teamwork they need to improve on."

'Teamwork' doesn't sound like a good term because the second Knuckles said 'teamwork', Emerald was looking at Bubblegum then Mecha.

"I mean the Rookie, sir!" said Espio.

"Yeah," agreed Vector. "That kid was shaking like a leaf during the mission."

Most of the Resistance soldiers looked at me. I felt nervous.

"That's because it's cold in space!" joked Charmy. "San Francisco is nice and warm."

"That is because it's burnt to the ground by Eggman!" said Knuckles. "The rookie would be fine!"

"But I don't think bringing Rookie is a good idea," said Vector. "It would be too much for him to take."

"Why is that?" asked Sonic.

"He kind of screwed up on his first mission," said Espio.

"What did he do wrong?"

"He didn't move when a freight train was about to hit him and overwhelmed by many robots at Death Egg. He is such a coward," explained Mecha to the whole Resistance. "Also, he's the one who ALMOST cost us the mission when he SET off the alarm. We shouldn't take him along with us because nobody wanted a LOSER in their team."

He then looked at the Resistance soldiers and said, "Some wolves are strong but Rookie is a WEAK pup."

Most of the Resistance soldiers laughed along with Mecha. I was hurt. I don't understand. Why do they think that was funny? They were scared before but why do they laugh at other people? I guessed that they loved to watch all the SUCKERS suffer.

"They don't think I'm good enough…" I thought. "…They're right…I'm useless…"

I felt sad. I looked down rejectedly. The darkness was buzzing in my right hand. I couldn't believe that Mecha is such a big jerk and showed no sympathy to almost everyone. I wanted to disappear. Suddenly, Bubblegum spoke up.

"Hey you lot," she snarled at the Resistance soldiers, getting their attention. "SHUT up."

"You know that you're not the boss of us," snickered Mecha.

Bubblegum raised her Wispon at the Resistance soldiers.

"SHUT up or ELSE," she threatened.

Something about her tone was able to scare the Resistance soldiers. They stopped laughing, looking alarmed. Mecha sighed inaudible.

She then looked back at the Choatix. "Let him come along with us."

"But…" said Vector. "He might fail the mission."

"WE might fail the mission WITHOUT him," pointed out Bubblegum. "Don't you realise what Rookie has. Great power. Though he might appear to be a coward, he is strong. His powers are very USEFUL and we might not succeed the mission without him. Only a FOOL would let a man stay behind. Nobody like to be USELESS and called a loser."

I was shocked. The girl who was harsh on me before was STANDING BY ME. It's working. Mecha looked more annoyed.

"Well you said it," said Knuckles. "Rookie will come along. Richard, take them to San Francisco."

"On it!" said Richard saluting. "C'mon, guys."

Sonic and the Black Squad followed him. On my way out of the door, I saw Minty whispering to her friends and pointing to me. It seemed like that they still think that I'm not worth it.

They didn't LISTEN to Bubblegum.

I felt hurt again. As I went out of the room, Bubblegum gave another nasty glare to the Resistance soldiers. Just before I knew it, a tear started to drop from my right eye. Sonic saw it.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm ok," I quickly looked the other way. But it didn't work because it was already too late. "I…ok…I'll tell you…I don't think…*sniff*…I would do well…During that mission, I don't know what I was doing. I wanted to help but I'm useless. Like they said, I screwed up. I almost failed the mission. Maybe I'm just a loser…*sniff*…I don't want to live anymore…"

I cried silently. Sonic came up.

"Hey," Sonic said softly. "Wipe your tears. Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody learns until they make them. You will do well. You just have to believe it. I believe in you. Don't hide, it's your turn to shine. Don't let your negativity own you. Got that?"

I didn't break a smile but I had to admit; it helped. Sonic smiled and put his fist in front of me. I knew what it meant. He wanted a fist bump with me. I wasn't big on fist bumps but I just did it.

"That's the sprit!" said Sonic, smiling. "Now let's go and stop those Egg Heads!"

He ran off through the hallway catching up with Richard. I looked at Bubblegum. I was about to say something but she said, "Don't mention it. I owed you that."

Emerald winked at me. "Lucky one," she said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Bubblegum smiling. "Sonic just fist bump you, dude! Almost no one would get a fist bump from a great hero! He even stand by you!"

"I guess so," I said trying to break a smile but my sad frown remained.

"Now, I thought about it," said Emerald. "I think your powers would be the answer to this war. Maybe you could use them to stop Eggman and save the world!"

"Yeah!" agreed Bubblegum. "You would be a great hero for that! You would earn GREAT respect from everyone!"

A great hero? Save the world? I thought they were out of their mind but they might be right. My powers might help the Resistance to stop the Eggman Empire. But ideas from both Bubblegum and Emerald UPSET MECHA.

The bird went up and shoved me aside. He gave me an angry mean glare before turning his back and followed Sonic. Sebastian came over and mouthed, 'Sorry' before putting on his mouth bandanna and followed his captain.

"OK," I said, offended by Mecha's nasty action. "I don't feel good."

"You'll feel better when you show Mecha who's the champ! We'll be able to see him whine all day!" smirked Bubblegum.

"Wow, such attitude you got!" I muttered under my breath before saying out loud, "Why do you guys HATE each other?"

Bubblegum took my question seriously. "Umm…you might not understand."

"I understand everything," I said.

"Sure but I'll have to tell you everything about my town,"

"It's ok. I know everything about Forest Tournament Town. I almost live close there."

"Do you? Are you…? Never mind."

Bubblegum took a deep breath. "Do you know about the tournaments that happened there?"

I nodded.

"Well, I and Emerald are in a team called the Blazers and Mecha had his own team called the Death Shockers including Sebastian."

She then hit her left palm with her right fist in anger. "Those jerks…they always show-off and mock us."

"But Sebastian was nice," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but I find him as my enemy. Anyway, the Death Shockers always win. We weren't able to win a match with them. Not even once!"

"So the reason why you and Mecha hate each other is because of BRAGGING RIGHTS?"

"Mostly yes,"

"Not only that," pointed out Emerald. "Another reason is because…"

Quickly, Bubblegum covered Emerald mouth with her hand. "Umm…she means nothing. Can we have a moment alone please?"

"Uh…ok," I said.

I went off but I walked slowly. I could hear their conversation.

"Why did you cut me off?" whispered Emerald.

Bubblegum sighed sadly and whispered, "I don't want to tell him about it."

"But everyone back at home knows about that incident," said Emerald. "Isn't it fair for Rookie to know?"

"NO. I don't want to bring that topic up. I just wanted to toss it away like a piece of garbage so that I wouldn't feel so bad. Do you know how hard it was? How hard for me to accept it into my life?"

"Well if that's the case, I won't tell Rookie. But YOU have to tell him."

"I'll try. If I can…"

I heard these two, continued to walk so I quickly caught up with the rest of the guys. I couldn't shake that conversation out of my head. What incident happened to Bubblegum were they talking about?

She might be hiding something. Maybe, I wasn't the only one keeping a secret.

* * *

 **San Francisco, 29/07 (at 6 am)**

We were here. The fighter plane dropped us off at San Francisco Airport. It was crowded. Many humans were going on evacuation planes.

Just after we got off, the captain of the Lime Squad appeared. He's a purple blue dog with green eyes and a black moustache. He wears a dark navy blue hat, dark navy blue long sleeved collared shirt with a red tie, white gloves, midnight blue shorts and black boots. He was carrying a Red Wispon which was damaged.

"You're ok?" asked Sonic.

"I'm ok," said the Lime Squad Captain. "I was able to escape but my Wispon is broken. There are 50 civilians still out there. You have to save them before it's too late!"

"No problem! C'mon, Black Squad."

As we ran out of the airport and into the city, Sonic said, "We'll split up. Go and find any survivors in the city! We need to save all 50s!"

It was hard work. I ran around the city on my own, destroying robots and saving people.

San Francisco would be nice to live in. I expected it to be sunny and peaceful. But at this condition, it wasn't nice. With flames and debris everywhere, the city was more like San Fran-STINK Town.

I managed to save 8 people. My muscles were aching. I stopped at a building and took some breathes.

Just then, I heard loud stomping that shook almost the entire place. Looking from behind the building, I saw THREE GIGANTIC ROBOTS STOMPING THROUGH THE STREETS.

They were far away from me but I could see them from where I was. Just then, I heard a familiar voice.

"Rookie!" called Bubblegum. "Over here!"

I shot my grappling gun at a building where Bubblegum was hiding. The hook pulled me towards it and I flew through the broken window.

When I got inside, I saw behind them was a human wearing a uniform. He looked scared and his clothes was partly ripped.

"Have you seen my wife and daughter?" he asked me. "I lost them,"

"I didn't see them," I said. "I'm sorry."

"We going to have to find them," said Sonic. "They are the last civilians we need to rescue."

"But how are we going to do that when there are THREE MASSIVE ROBOTS out there?" said Bubblegum.

Sonic thought for a while. "You guys have grappling guns, right?"

Both I and Bubblegum nodded.

Sonic said, "We going to destroyed them. You guys go out there and tie the robots up. Give me a signal and I'll rush over and blast them in one hit."

I looked at him like he was crazy. But the craziest thing was when Bubblegum said, "I volunteer Rookie to go and tie those robots. I'll take care of that man."

I was shocked. I spat, "W-what?! Me?!"

"Yes," said Bubblegum. "You're the one with powers. You would be able to protect yourself."

"B-but…I…" I sputtered.

"C'mon, Rookie," said Sonic. "You could do this."

"Yeah," agreed Bubblegum. "You're a strong wolf."

"But I'm couldn't," I said getting agitated.

"C'mon, you could," disagreed Bubblegum.

"Can you understand?" I said getting uncomfortable.

"It's just one shot, Rookie," said Sonic "You could do it…"

" **NO! YOU'RE WRONG!** " I roared in rage. " **YOU'RE BOTH WRONG! I'M NOT WHAT YOU THINK I AM! I'M NOT AS TOUGH, STRONG, ACROBATIC AND BRAVE LIKE YOU GUYS! IF I GO UP THERE, I'LL BE DEAD. I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO TIE THEM UP. I WOULD BE SHOT, THUS FAILING THIS MISSION LIKE HOW I ALMOST FAILED MY FIRST ONE!** "

As I yelled in anger, tears started to fell out of my eyes.

" **They're right!** " I growled accepting every mean word I got. " **The Resistance Team is right! I'm not a good soldier. I'm just an average kid. A worthless weak little rookie…** "

KASLAP!

I felt a powerful painful slap on my cheek. I stopped yelling and saw who did that. It was Bubblegum, her face flashing with anger, fed up with my negative attitude.

"Two words: SHUT UP!" yelled Bubblegum firmly grabbing a fistful of my vest. "ARE YOU A SOLDIER OR AN IDIOT?! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE SCARED AND DON'T WANT TO LET US DOWN BUT JUST WHINGING WILL HELP YOU?! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO ACCEPT EVERY STUPID COMMENT YOU RECEIVED?! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LET THOSE EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENTS GET THE BEST OF YOU?! NO! YOU WON'T! DON'T THINK LIKE THAT! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! PROVE THE RESISTANCE TEAM IS WRONG! PROVE MECHA IS WRONG! PROVE THAT YOU'RE NOT WEAK!"

I was stunned of what Bubblegum said. Maybe I deserved that slap.

Bubblegum's voice soften. "Believe in yourself. I believe in you. Sonic believes in you."

She then touched my cross necklace. "God believes in you."

It was silence for a while until I said, "O-ok…I guess I can try."

I looked at Sonic and said, "When I give you the signal, go out, ok?"

Sonic nodded. I got out of the building and ran towards the robots as close as I dare. And then, they saw me; one of the gigantic robots shot a large red laser beam at me but using my powers, I did a massive jump. That was able to save myself from being killed. But while I flew upwards, I started to feel scared. I closed my eyes. Voices started to enter in my head.

 _"_ _ **You are too dumb to know your powers.**_ _"_

 _"_ _That name suits you. You must be weak."_

 _"This kid doesn't look like much."_

" _Thanks for nothing, Rookie! If we left you back at the shuttle, NONE of THIS would have happened!_ "

 _"_ _That kid was shaking like a leaf during the mission."_

 _"_ _You kind of screwed up on your first mission."_

 _"_ _He's the one who ALMOST cost us the mission when he SET off the alarm. We shouldn't take him along with us because nobody wanted a LOSER in their team. Some wolves are strong but Rookie is a WEAK useless pup."_

As I heard those negative voices, I started to shed tears.

"I can't do this," I kept thinking. "I would fail everyone and would cost the entire world. I'm such a…"

Suddenly, Bubblegum's voice came into my head.

 _"_ _Two words: SHUT UP! ARE YOU A SOLDIER OR AN IDIOT?! PROVE THAT YOU'RE NOT WEAK!"_

Then, Sonic's voice entered my mind.

 _"_ _Don't hide, it's your turn to shine. Don't let your negativity own you."_

And then, Belt's voice took over.

 _"_ _You can do this."_

I realised why I was doing this. To fight for freedom. To fight for the world. To fight to save my brother.

The same gigantic robot aimed at me. I no longer felt scared but turned into a fiery anger.

"I'm… **not** … **WEAK!** " I growled as I opened my eyes.

The robots shot another beam of laser but I quickly formed a shield around me. I then shot my grappling gun at the arms and swung around the three robots, tying them up. Finally, I let the cable cut and I shouted, " **NOW!** "

Sonic heard me. He ran in full speed, blue energy came out of him. He then jumped, curled into a blue spinning ball and zapped through the robots.

CHING!

I and Sonic landed. The robots fell behind us and exploded.

KABOOM!

Once the dust was clear, I looked behind. There were pieces of what was left of those three gigantic robots.

I realised this; I DID IT. The words I received were able to encourage me to brave the fear and destroyed the biggest enemies. For the first time, I started to smile.

Sonic looked at me and smiled back.

I was too shocked to speak. I actually did it.

Bubblegum came over. Using her grappling gun, she flew and landed next to us. She was holding the man as he also landed beside her, nearly losing his balance.

Bubblegum ran up to me and playfully punched me on my shoulder. "I knew you could do it!" she said excitedly.

"Yeah," agreed Sonic. "You're a great Resistance soldier!"

"I guess," I said.

"Cute," said Bubblegum looking at me. "This is the first time I saw you smile. Look nice. Including the teeth."

At that moment, Mecha, Emerald and Sebastian appeared, stopped in front of us completely shocked to see this: I, Sonic and Bubblegum standing in front of a destroyed pile of large robots.

Mecha's beak started to move.

Emerald's jaw dropped.

Sebastian's eyes widen up.

He said almost choking, "W-what…did you guys…?"

Bubblegum shook her head.

"Not me. Just these two."

She took a step back, pointed at me and Sonic.

Emerald started to squeal in excitement, jumping up and down before yelling, "OH MY GOODNESS!"

She thrown her Wispon into the air which unexpectedly hit on Mecha.

DONK!

"Ow!" groaned Mecha.

Ignoring Mecha's curses, Emerald ran up to me and hugged me. TOO TIGHT. I must had felt her ears wrapped around me. At this moment, I don't know what was worse; being zapped by a gigantic robot or squeezed to death by a hyper rabbit. Trust me, I would take death by a robot in a heartbeat.

"You are AWESOME, COOKIE!" cheered Emerald hugging me too tightly. "I KNEW you would do something incredible!"

"…That's…great…!" I choked. "…I…can't…breathe…"

"Let go of him, Emerald," chuckled Bubblegum.

"Oh," said Emerald before letting go of me. "Sorry,"

Sebastian went up to me and yelled, "THAT WAS NICE, DUDE! I never thought you could defeat someone like that!"

"I wasn't just by myself," I said. "I got help from Sonic."

Just then, Amy called, " _We found Shadow in the city._ "

"Now for a word with him," said Sonic.

" _Be careful, Sonic and Black Squad,_ " said Amy before calling off.

"Let's go," said Sonic as he walked straight. Emerald and Sebastian followed him. Meanwhile, Mecha was standing in his spot, couldn't believe of what just happened. His face darkened. He walked in front of me and poked me hard in the chest.

"You stay out of my way from now on," he snapped. "Razumijete?!" (which means 'understand' in Bosnian)

I didn't know what that last word meant but I quickly nodded nervously. Mecha gave me another nasty glare before turning his back and caught up with the rest.

"Oh dear," I thought. "Mecha took the whole 'winning' thing too far. I don't feel so good anymore."

Just then, I saw Bubblegum looking through a building with a smashed door. There was crying in there.

"Please leave me alone!" cried the female voice in there.

"Don't worry," said Bubblegum. "I came here to rescue you."

Whoever was in there accepted Bubblegum's trust. She came out. It was a human woman wearing a partly burnt dress. Not only was that, behind her was a small young human girl. The man in the uniform was shocked to see them.

"Matilda?!" exclaimed the man.

He then ran up to them and they embraced in joy.

"I'm glad that at least there is a family already safe," said Bubblegum.

"Yeah…" I said.

As I watched them, it started to remind of how I was with Belt. Those humans were laughing happily that they were safe and together. And it's something that I POSSIBLY won't get. A FAMILY.

I still couldn't find Belt. I started to worry about him. Eventually, I felt more lonely and sad than I should be.

"C'mon, Rookie," called Bubblegum. "There's still some work to do."

I flashed a fake smile and followed her. Deep down inside me, I didn't like what just happened. I'm still without Belt and all by myself. Also, Mecha started to have a reason to HATE me. I knew that he was a big jerk but I had feelings for him. I wished I didn't upset Mecha. But why I felt that way? I should have been proud of myself of what I've done but I just have too many concerns for others. I don't want to be an enemy to almost anyone.

"This is one fine morning," I thought sarcastically. "When will these problems go away?"

* * *

Using Mecha's tracking device, we were able to find Shadow the Hedgehog.

We saw him. The brooding black/red hedgehog with red eyes, wearing white gloves and red/white shoes was standing there in the streets.

"All right, Shadow!" said Sonic. "What's the deal?"

Without replying, Shadow rushed over about to kick Sonic until…

"CHOAS CONTROL!"

The whole place became a different colour. Out of the blue, ANOTHER Shadow jumped and kicked the first one. That one fell on the ground and flickered before disappearing.

"Another Shadow?" said Sonic confused of what just happened.

"That one was a fake," said Shadow. "I wouldn't team up with Eggman again."

"A fake?"

"Yes. That 'Infinite' guy made replicas of some enemies of this world. They are just mindless clones."

"So that's why I saw them,"

Shadow looked at us and his frown deepened. "I see that you let a group of children into war."

Bubblegum, Mecha and Sebastian looked at Shadow angrily not liking the fact that we are called children. But Emerald, obviously, had the opposite effect.

"Well said!" she said happily.

"ISN'T THAT SUPPOSED TO MAKE YOU ANGRY?!" hissed Bubblegum. "He's not wrong but…!"

"But…" said Emerald pointing to me. "We got this guy. He has good powers and our good luck charm!"

"Good luck charm?" I thought. "Seriously?"

Shadow wasn't impressed. "Pft. You don't look like you have powers. More like a weak kid."

Ouch. That hurt. Mecha started to smirk. Before I could say a word, the radio started buzzing. It must be the Lime Squad Captain.

" _RED ALART! I FOUND A GIGANTIC METAL SONIC, AT GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. HE'S COMING TO THE AIRPORT AND ONE OF THE EVACUATION PLANES ARE BROKEN!"_

"What?!" cried Bubblegum.

"Must be another fake Infinite made," said Shadow.

"Even worse!" said Sebastian. "One of the evacuation planes is broken so Metal Sonic would have time to catch up with them!"

"Let's go and stop that metal head!" said Sonic.

* * *

We arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge. The large red bridge was deserted with a few skidmarks.

"Why is the Golden Gate Bridge red instead of gold?" wondered Emerald.

"Never judge a bridge by its name." said Bubblegum.

Suddenly, a buzzing noise filled the air.

"What was that?" I asked.

I didn't need an answer because the answer came from the middle of the bridge. A large robot in the shape of Sonic appeared with flickering pixels around it.

"Him again," said Sonic. "Except bigger,"

"We'll stop him," said Emerald before advancing. "CHARGE!"

"Wait!" called Bubblegum. Too late.

She gave up and all of us engaged into battle. It wasn't that easy. Even though we outnumbered Metal Sonic, it was too powerful. Something wasn't right. At one point, Emerald and Sebastian went in for the kill but Metal Sonic kicked them. They landed on the ground side by side.

"HEY, tin can!" mocked Mecha who was standing behind Metal Sonic. "Over here you rusty robot!"

This caught the robot's attention. It shot a beam of laser but Mecha quickly dodged them, continued to make fun of Metal Sonic. After doing a somersault while dodging the last laser beam, Mecha dashed forward using his Yellow Wispon and charged at Metal Sonic.

That robot acted fast. It made a pixel shield, blocking Mecha's attack. Mecha stopped looking confused. Before he knew it, he was thrown off away from Metal Sonic and hit Emerald, Sebastian and Shadow.

SMASH!

They scattered like bowling pins and all fours fell down.

"So much for being a pro," said Bubblegum.

I got an idea. "Sonic! Dash over to Metal!"

"What?!" said Sonic. "How..?"

"Just do it!"

Listening to me, Sonic dashed over to the robot. As he ran towards it, Metal Sonic was about to shoot him until…

ZAP!

Using my powers, I was able to shoot Metal Sonic with an energy ball, thus stopping it from doing its attack. Sonic jumped and hit the giant robot.

"That's it!" said Bubblegum realising how to win the battle. "Let's work together to defeat that robot!"

So we did. Every time Sonic dashed up to Metal Sonic, I and Bubblegum used our Wispons to interrupt its attacks, giving Sonic a chance to fight.

We kept using this technique and the robot got weaker. Pixels started going around Metal Sonic and it flickered. It started to try flying away.

"Rookie!" called Bubblegum. "Shoot at me!"

"You wanted to get killed?!" I yelled.

"Just do it!"

I shot a large turquoise beam of laser towards her. Bubblegum acted quickly. She took a huge step back and shot the passing beam with her Wispon. A pink spike ball came out of her Wispon and shot through the laser beam.

I realised something; when the spike ball hit that laser beam, the colour powers combined! It's because the spike ball became a pink and turquoise laser spike ball and it zapped at Metal Sonic!

BOOM!

A smoke of turquoise and pink surrounded the robot as it fell weakly into the ocean below. It floated on the water for a while, then flickered and disappeared.

The replica of Metal Sonic was gone.

"Yes!" whooped Sonic. "Well done, Rookie and Bubblegum!"

I looked at Bubblegum as she came over to me. She smiled. I smiled back. Mecha, Emerald, Sebastian and Shadow got up on their feet.

"What just happened?" asked Sebastian.

"Rookie, Bubblegum and I defeated Metal," said Sonic. "But it was their teamwork that helped them."

Again for the second time, Emerald let out an excited squeal and threw her Wispon in the air. As she ran towards us, her Wispon fell onto Mecha's head.

TONG!

"Ow!" groaned Mecha.

Emerald wrapped her arms around me, squeezed me even tighter than before.

"AWESOME!" she squealed. "YOU DEFEATED ONE OF THE VILLIANS KNOWN TO EARTH! YOU DID AN EXCELLENT JOB!"

"…Please…let…go…" I choked but all that came out was a soft dog whine.

"Calm down, Emerald," laughed Bubblegum as she quickly pulled Emerald away from me. "I'm sure he doesn't want to be nearly killed again."

Emerald then hugged Bubblegum but the pink cat didn't mind.

"Dude!" exclaimed Sebastian. "That wasn't just nice. That was AWESOME! You and Bubblegum defeated one of the greatest enemies."

"Aw," said Bubblegum smugly waving her right hand. "Shucks!"

" _Great job, Sonic and Black Squad,_ " called the Lime Squad Captain. " _The evacuation planes are now in the air and you saved them just in time. Meet you back at the airport._ "

"Let's celebrate!" said Emerald.

"Not yet!" said Sebastian. "There's still work to do. Let's go back to the HQ."

Emerald and Sebastian left the bridge. Bubblegum and Sonic were busy talking to me. I felt better. I couldn't believe what happened.

Shadow came up to us. Though he didn't smile, he just said, "Not bad. I'm surprised that you did well."

I smiled politely but that didn't last long when I saw Mecha still in his spot. His eyes and beak were wide-opened.

Shadow looked at him and said, "Pathetic penguin."

That was enough to tick Mecha off. Again, his face transformed from shock to anger. He grumbled something in Dutch and turned around. Angered, he left the bridge sulking.

"Nice one, Shadow!" laughed Bubblegum. "That is what he deserves!"

As I watched Mecha stomped off into the city, I felt guilty again.

* * *

 **AN: Now here's Sebastian's bio**

 **Name: Sebastian Von Stunami**

 **Age: 14**

 **Species: Wolf**

 **Eye Color: Yellow on the left, Red (mechanical eye) on the right**

 **Fur Color: Lime Green**

 **Skin Color: Light Peach**

 **Quill/Hair Style: Four quills all combed down with white tips on them**

 **Attire: Red Bandannas on the head, left arm and tail, Navy Blue Mouth Bandanna, Silver Metal Suit with red linings and the letter 'S' in the middle, Navy Blue Gloves, A Utility Belt with Strap (with small drones and yellow smoke bombs), Navy Blue Jeans, Silver Boots with Red Linings**

 **Noticeable Features: Have fangs**

 **Personality: Kind, Talkative, Caring, Brave, Cool-Headed, Calm, Honest, Laid-Back, Adaptability, Adventurous, Teen-ish, Extrovert, Doesn't wanted to get into arguing fights**

 **Trivia**

 **\- When not wearing the suit, he wears anything that is trendy**

 **\- He got the mechanical eye when Mecha did an 'experiment' on him (Sebastian threw out his old eye in the bin)**

 **\- Have a strong bond with Emerald**

 **...And that's all of the bios! Due to school starting in a few weeks, I'm going to upload my chapters DAILY (if I could). You could still make a review about this story (but still please no flames or swearing). In the next chapter, things would fall apart for the Black Squad. Will Clay hold onto his secret for long and what is the dark truth about his powers?**


	7. Shattered Glass

**AN: 1000 VIEWS! THANK YOU SO MUCH MY ROCK 'N' ROLLERS!**

 **Finally, Chapter 7 is here! Hope you enjoy it! (Note: Minneapolis is the Metropolis Setting of this story and Africa is the Mystic Jungle of this story.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 7 - Shattered Glass**

 **Resistance HQ, 29/07 (at 9 am)**

As we entered into the HQ, the Resistance Team was there, clapping at us.

"Well down, Black Squad," said Knuckles. "Great job, Sonic, Rookie and Bubblegum for stopping Metal Sonic."

"Heh," said Bubblegum stepping back. "Not for me. Just congrats Sonic and Rookie."

"Same thing," said Sonic patting me on the back. "Rookie deserves more."

"Well done, Rookie," said Espio. "You did a good job out there."

"You really showed them who is the boss!" agreed Charmy.

"C'mon, guys!" groaned Vector. "How am I going to top this?"

In a second, many of the Resistance soldiers crowded around me. They seemed to be impressed for defeating a villain. I was getting praises and slaps on the back but despite that good feeling, I was overwhelmed. I have never been in a huge crowd as I liked to be alone.

Just before I thought I couldn't take it anymore, Minty and Mic came towards me. Mic growled quietly at Minty. It looked like that the white wolf wanted the mint green hedgehog to say something.

Looking ashamed and guilty, Minty said, "Sorry, Rookie for making fun of you. I couldn't help it. I'll admit that you're…"

"It's ok," I said. "As long as I got an apology, I'm happy."

Minty smiled. I smiled back. It was the least I could do. While many soldiers were chattering to me, I heard Bubblegum talking to Mecha near the door. I couldn't see what they were doing but I could hear them fine.

"What's the matter with your face?" teased Bubblegum.

"Nothing," said Mecha before giving up and saying, "Kind of. Why does Rookie get to have the spotlight?!"

"Well he deserved it. He did his best."

"But his best is not good enough! I'm stronger and smarter than him and I should be the champion! Not him!" snapped Mecha.

"But you always win! Isn't it fair for SOMEONE ELSE to win once instead of you?!" said Bubblegum with her voice raising and a change of tone.

"No! He's just got lucky. What's fair is that the pros like me should be in first place!"

"But you're not smart in everything! Why don't you just go to a class to learn good manners?! That is why you're not so smart in everything!"

I heard a loud slap and Bubblegum groaning in pain. I turned around to see what was going on but all I saw was Mecha's goggles flying towards my eyes.

KASLAM!

I fell on the ground.

Everyone stayed quiet.

I looked up and saw Mecha coming towards me. His left arm was in the air and caught his goggles that were flying. He put them back on. His eyes were narrowed. He looked really mad. I was looking at him, terrified as if I was in a nightmare.

"What…" I sputtered. "Why…did you do that?"

"Because I feel like to," he said with his voice raising. "That way, you could learn to stay out of my way!"

"Shut up, Mecha!" hissed Bubblegum as she came over and helped me to my feet. "Just admit that you lost. Rookie destroyed three massive robots and one of the greatest villains AND YOU DIDN'T!"

"Admit it?! Why do I need to praise a rookie who had no experience before?!"

"Drop DEAD, BIRD-BRAIN!"

Knuckles tried to calm them down but neither of them listened. Mecha pushed Bubblegum aside and looked at me.

"And you!" he snapped. "Do you think you could just take my crown and get away with it?!"

"But…" I said, wanting to end the argument.

"BUT NOTHING!" Mecha exploded in rage. "YOU THINK YOU COULD DO BETTER THAN I DID?! YOU THINK YOU'RE SOME KIND OF PRINCE?! NO! JUST BECAUSE BEING LUCKY AND DEFEATING THOSE PUNKS OUT THERE DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE A PRO! YOU'RE STILL A WEAK ROOKIE! YOU'RE NOTHING! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE IN THE RESISTANCE! YOU ARE JUST A STUPID OVER-SIZED PUG!"

The last line he said was locked in my mind. Then these words, "TAKE THAT BACK."

Despite, seeing the turquoise bird, I saw RED. I felt myself shaking uncontrollably. My hands clenching into fists. My teeth gritting. Just then, my right hand started to let my claws come out of my glove. I WENT FERAL.

" **GRRRRRAAAAAAGH!** "

STRIKE!

The next thing I knew was Sonic holding onto my right arm. My claws sank back in my glove. I looked at what I've done. Mecha nearly fell and his right T-shirt sleeve was cut off. There was a black piece of cotton on the floor.

And it was already too late.

"THAT'S IT!" he snapped. "I'LL TAME YOU WITH MY FIST!"

He rugby-tackled me to the ground and started to punch me. I tried to fight back but I was lying on my back. That bird was too strong.

In the background, many soldiers were chanting.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

There were other noises too.

"STOP MECHA!" said Knuckles.

"NO, CAPTAIN!" said Sebastian.

"LET GO OF HIM!" said Bubblegum.

"STOP IT!" said Sonic.

Quickly, Tails dragged Mecha away but it wasn't enough. Mecha broke free and started to advance towards me. I thought he was about to continue until…

SMASH!

A large Blue Wispon smashed on the ground, separating Mecha away from me. I looked up to see who was holding the Wispon. It was Emerald.

"THAT'S…ENOUGH!" she said firmly. "NO MORE FIGHTING! Look, Mecha and Bubblegum already hate each other so don't let that start for YOU TWO! If this continues, our teamwork would become a shattered glass. We could not take any more of this and the fate of the Earth is depending on us so please…don't…!"

"Step aside," said Mecha angrily as he pushed Emerald's Wispon away.

Just before he could lay a finger on me, two soldiers quickly ran over and grabbed him. Mecha tried to break free but those soldiers were strong, strong enough to pull him away. Mecha was glaring at me making curses in different languages.

Without a word, I grabbed my backpack and ran out of the room. I ran across the hallway and went into a storage room. I locked the door and laid my head on the wall, hoping that it'll be over. But I could still hear voices.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" yelled Bubblegum.

"FOR WHAT?!" snapped Mecha as he broke free from the soldiers' grips.

"YOU'VE SHOWED TOO MUCH TO ROOKIE! YOU'VE SHOWED THAT NOT ONLY YOU ARE A BAD BULLY, BUT A BAD TEAMMATE TO RELY ON! INCLUDING ME AND EMERALD!"

"IF YOU WANT RESPECT, WHY DON'T YOU GET BETTER THAN ME?!"

"WE CAN'T ALWAYS BE A PERFECT, JERKISH, NERD, FOUR-EYED BIRD-BRAIN LIKE YOU!"

"I NEVER SAID THAT I WAS A BIRD-BRAIN! AT LEAST I'M NOT YOU. AT LEAST I'M NOT A SOFT KITTY!"

"That's enough!" said Tails stepping between them. "Like what Emerald said, your teamwork is almost INEXISTENCE. We have to concentrate about the world and not about who win or lose."

"He's right," grumbled Mecha who cooled down but was still angry. "I say that we split up for now."

"I agree," muttered Bubblegum.

"Uh-uh," said Knuckles. "I'm not letting you guys do so. You two need to learn how to work with each other. We can't always let you go on your own paths. Mic will take you to Minneapolis and you have to learn to work together to save the people who are captured there. We'll let Rookie sit this one out but you two need to learn. You wouldn't succeed by doing your own ways. Understand?"

It was a dead silence. Bubblegum shook her head before saying, "Fine,"

Turning her back, she stomped out of the room and out of the hallway. Emerald followed her.

"Bubblegum, please…" pleaded Emerald.

"Don't…talk…to…me…" said Bubblegum with difficulty.

Mecha just stood in his spot, looking at where Bubblegum left angrily.

"C-Captain…" said Sebastian. "You got to…"

"Damare," snapped Mecha.

"But…"

"Damare! That's an order, Sebastian! I'm sorry but from now on, I don't want to hear a single peep from you. Do I make myself clear?!"

Sebastian stayed quiet, shocked to see the fact that his captain didn't want to talk to him anymore. Mecha stomped off.

"See you, guys," said Sebastian as he and Mic went out of the room.

It was all silence in the room. Everyone was shocked with Black Squad's loud argument. Nobody made a sound, until Minty broke the silence.

"Wow," said Minty. "Just wow. That's the biggest fight I've seen before."

Richard sighed. "The reason why is because cats and birds don't really mix."

"Not really," said Silver. "It's just that their teamwork is not good and some of them only care about themselves."

"I thought getting them to help us would be a good idea," said Knuckles. "But I'm starting to regret it."

"Where's Rookie?" said Sonic.

"Possibly ran away," said Shadow.

"But where he went wasn't the way where the fighter planes are," pointed out Silver. "He must be inside one of the storage rooms."

"Should we check on him?" asked Sonic.

"I'll check on Rookie soon," offered Amy. "We still have more problems to solve."

Sonic nodded and went out of the room quietly to do his next mission. But he was thinking about how hard Mecha was on Rookie. How could they solve the problem?

Little did anyone know that Rookie heard everything.

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

As I heard Sonic's footsteps, I felt very bad.

"In the middle of a brutal war," I thought. "I have lost my brother, Belt, had a terrible nightmare, encountered a town attack, and joined to fight in war, stumbled at the Space Port, set the alarm off at Death Egg, critically judged by the Resistance Team and now this. I had upset almost everyone and it is my fault. If I wasn't so powerful, I wouldn't have got into this mess. This is all my fault. ALL my fault…"

I felt myself shaking and my teeth gritting. I started to growl.

"Why…why did I sign up for this? What did I do that caused all of this? Why do I always make mistakes and make people upset? Is it how I am? Is it because I…I…EXIST?"

I was about to throw another fit but then I stopped. I felt a tear coming from my eye and I broke into an uncontrollable cry. This was all too much for me and I couldn't hold onto it.

 _" **You are too dumb to know your powers.** "_

 _"That name suits you. You must be weak."_

 _"This kid doesn't look like much."_

" _Thanks for nothing, Rookie! If we left you back at the shuttle, NONE of THIS would have happened!_ "

 _"Now that IDIOT learnt that it's a dumb idea to set off the alarm."_

 _"That kid was shaking like a leaf during the mission."_

 _"You kind of screwed up on your first mission."_

 _"He's the one who ALMOST cost us the mission when he SET off the alarm. We shouldn't take him along with us because nobody wanted a LOSER in their team. Some wolves are strong but Rookie is a WEAK useless pup."_

 _"YOU THINK YOU COULD DO BETTER THAN I DID?! YOU THINK YOU'RE SOME KIND OF PRINCE?!"_

I continued to cry as I lean against the wall.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

None of the Black Squad said a word as they took the ride to Minneapolis.

Mic was in the pilot's seat, flying the plane. Mecha was in the other pilot's seat but didn't offer to help.

Bubblegum sat in the first passenger row by herself. Bubblegum and Mecha barely looked at each other. They were too furious about the argument they had.

In the second row, Emerald sat and Sebastian sat in the last row. Emerald looked behind to see Sebastian. He looked very upset. Not only she could tell by his eyes but Sebastian's bandanna wasn't covering his mouth revealing his sad frown.

"You're ok?" asked Emerald in a whisper voice.

Sebastian shook his head. "No. Mecha doesn't want to talk."

"Hopefully, they'll forget about it soon," said Emerald in her fakest smile ever. Deep inside, she knew that everything wasn't alright but for her, it wasn't worth it being sad.

At least that was what she thought Or Sebastian.

"I don't think so," whispered Sebastian. "Bubblegum and Mecha still hate each other. They keep going back and forth. No matter how hard I tried to convince Mecha to stop, he never listens to me. But what's the point? Mecha IS my captain and I need to obey him."

Sebastian sighed before whispering again. "Also, I'm worried for Rookie."

"Same," whispered Emerald.

"Something is not right with him."

"He's acting like Bubblegum at most time. Isolating from other people, being quiet and hide in the shadows. I still have this feeling that he might be similar to someone."

"Do you know?"

"I know who but I'm not really sure. We don't have much information. We don't even know his real name."

While Emerald and Sebastian were whispering to each other, Bubblegum looked outside the window on her right grimly.

"Stupid stuff," thought Bubblegum. "Wish I stay at home instead of being in this war."

Feeling tired, Bubblegum fell into a deep sleep. Then she started to have a dream but it was a flashback of the town attack.

 _Flashback (28/07)_

 _Bubblegum and the Police Chief were helping all the civilians trapped in an apartment, they were trying to get out. But it wasn't easy. There were flames and tipped-over furniture blocking their way._

 _"_ _Is there anyone else here?" asked Bubblegum, while wiping sweat from her forehead._

 _Chief looked at her. He is a black dog with blue eyes. He wears a black vest with a golden badge, black gloves and black boots._

 _"_ _There's one over there," said Chief pointing to a young cat hidden behind the counter. "Get her out of there, now!"_

 _Bubblegum ran over to the frightened little cat and picked her up. Without any warning, a BOMB smashed through the window._

 _"_ _BETH!" yelled Chief. "Get out of here!"_

 _Bubblegum doesn't like to be called by her real name but she did her chief's command. With the young cat in her hands, she ran outside._

 _Once out of the apartment, Bubblegum let go of the young cat. The young cat then ran off for safety._

 _Looking behind, Bubblegum saw Chief inside the apartment CLOSING THE DOOR._

 _"_ _What?!" sputtered Bubblegum. "Chief?! What are you doing?!"_

 _"_ _This door may be made from glass," said Chief as he locked it. "But it's unbreakable. I'm doing this so that the flames will not spread out."_

 _"_ _WHAT?! NO! PLEASE DON'T!"_

 _Bubblegum desperately tried to open the door but it was locked. She looked at the bomb and it was about to explode._

 _Taking a look, Bubblegum looked at Chief who gave her a sad smile before mouthing, "Make the world a better place". That was the last time she saw him._

 _KABOOM!_

 _The bomb exploded. The closed doors and windows were able to protect Bubblegum from the flames. Bubblegum looked inside and saw the whole room on fire. The Chief was nowhere in sight. In his place was his golden badge. He died protecting her._

 _Shocked to see the leader of the Police gone, Bubblegum shook her head and ran away, met up with Emerald._

As Bubblegum slowly woke up in tears, she started to feel scared.

"Would I end up like Chief?" she thought.

Bubblegum wasn't the only one who fell into a deep sleep and seen a flashback. Mecha was asleep in his seat. He appeared to be frothing with something similar to small soap bubbles, only more disgusting, came out from his beak. He was also having a dream.

 _Flashback_

 _"_ _Wait!"_

 _"_ _ **Just go away!**_ _"_

 _"_ _But, Zero!"_

 _"_ _ **Leave me alone!**_ _"_

 _"_ _But, my friend…"_

 _"_ _ **DON'T CALL ME YOUR FRIEND!**_ _"_

 _SCRATCH!_

Quickly waking up, Mecha screamed and breathed heavily. Mic realised that the bird was having a bad dream.

"Are you ok?" Mic asked.

"I'm ok!" said Mecha. "I'm ok!"

Mecha looked back and saw Bubblegum. They gave each other nasty glares.

"What just happened?" whispered Emerald.

Sometime later, the Black Squad arrived Minneapolis. As they walked down the empty streets, the whole city looked perfectly clean and was bright white. But the city was abandoned before the Eggman Empire attacked and only a few people were captured and held captive. It was like a ghost town, except the fact that it looked fancy neat instead of creepy or dirty.

From the top of a very tall building, Infinite looked down and seeing the Black Squad was walking through the streets.

" **More ants to crush,** " he said. " **I wonder if this world can offer me a real challenge.** "

Black Squad wasn't aware that Infinite was there until he teleported in front of them.

" **And as if to answer, the world sends me trembling children,** " said Infinite.

The second he appeared, the Black Squad stopped dead in their spot. Bubblegum was in front and scared the most among all.

" **Are you going to fight and die here?** " questioned Infinite coldly. " **Or run away in fear again?** "

Bubblegum was trembling. Her first time encounter with Infinite was scary but being in front of the murderer again who killed some of her friends topped the chart.

"Oh no," thought Bubblegum shaking. "We're done for…we're going to end up like the rest of the victims…"

Suddenly, she remembered what she once said to Rookie.

 _"_ _Two words: SHUT UP! ARE YOU A SOLDIER OR AN IDIOT?!"_

Listening to her own advice, she remembered how she was able to give HOPE to her wolf friend and knowing she needed to do the same for herself.

Clenching her fists, she kept muttering under her breath, "I'm not an idiot. I'm not an idiot."

And then, she threw her fists up in a ready-position attack.

"I'll fight," Bubblegum hissed.

" **Fine, I will teach you FEAR, and then PAIN,** " said Infinite. " **Well at least the fear and pain would end soon for you all.** "

"No," snarled Bubblegum through gritted teeth. "You have taught us FEAR and PAIN for SO LONG. It's YOUR TURN."

" **You may try but you'll never take on someone that infinite.** "

As the black creature said that, he teleported and disappeared.

"C'mon," said Bubblegum. "Let's go."

She ran off with Emerald, who was following behind her. Sebastian was about to follow until he noticed something was wrong with Mecha.

He was still standing like a frozen gnome. He looked very worried. He was staring blankly at where Infinite was before.

"Are you ok?" asked Sebastian.

Mecha quickly snapped back to reality. "Um…yes…" he lied. "Just a bit of brain fart."

Sebastian shrugged and the two went on their own path. But Sebastian couldn't help thinking about Mecha looking so worried. He barely saw him like that before. The last time was when Mecha saw Infinite.

"What's wrong with Captain?" Sebastian thought.

* * *

 **Clay's POV, Resistance HQ, 29/07 (at 11 am)**

I didn't know how long but I was in that room for a long time.

My head was laying against the wall, feeling miserable.

Suddenly, I felt the darkness again.

It was buzzing in my right hand but it started to move up to my wrist and…

Looking at where it came from, I saw this: from under my wrist, blackness started to cover my fur. It started to spread slowly and went up to the halfway point of my elbow.

I realised what was going on and remembered how it was like when I had the mysterious nightmare.

 _"_ _ **This is only the beginning, Dark Wolf**_ _._ _ **Once you're complete IN real life, you'll be part of mine**_ _."_

Fearing if that's true, I quickly grabbed a long roll of bandage and wrapped up my arm. I stopped when the bandage covered from my wrist to my elbow. I could still feel the darkness but it stayed at that spot.

"No," I thought. "This can't be real. This can't be real."

But IT was real. Even slapping myself wouldn't help. Suddenly, I heard the doorknob trying to be opened. But I locked it. Next was knocking.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Rookie?"

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Rookie?"

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Rookie?"

It was Amy. The last thing I wanted to do was talk. But she didn't go away. She just stood in her spot. Giving up, I grimly opened the door.

"I just came here to see if you're ok," Amy said softly.

I nodded without looking at her in the eye.

"What happened a few hours ago was a bit harsh," she said. "Want to talk about it?"

I shook my head and gently did a soft shove. I walked past her and went through the hallway. Eventually, I ended up going into the HQ.

"There you are, Rookie," said Tails. "We were wondering where you went."

I looked up and saw Knuckles coming to me. He looked disappointed.

"Rookie, what you did was the WRONG THING," he said firmly. "You almost got Mecha killed."

"Well, Mecha almost killed him," pointed out Amy as she came into the HQ.

"I'm disappointed with you," continued Knuckles. "No soldier would hurt his teammates. That's a BAD move."

I felt a tear rolling down my eye. I thought about the horrible fight I had.

"I'm…so sorry," I said with difficulty. "I didn't know what came over me. Besides, it was MY FAULT for starting the fight."

"Why do you say that?" asked Silver.

"If I hadn't joined the Resistance…" I said. "I wouldn't made Mecha jealous."

I looked at Choatix.

"You were right," I sniffed. "I don't look that much. Just a piece of trash."

Charmy flew up to me.

"I didn't really mean that," he said. "Sorry if you felt offended. I just thought you wouldn't be great at first."

I nodded my head. After more tears in silence, I decided to change the topic.

"So…um…how is the Black Squad doing?" I asked.

"They seems to be doing alright," said Knuckles looking at a nearby tablet. "But they split up, not wanting to help each other. Even worse, Infinite is there. They were able to rescue a lot of people but they have one left."

"So where are they now?"

Suddenly, a scream came from the radio.

"That came from Emerald!" said Knuckles.

"What's going on?" said Amy.

Knuckles tapped on his tablet. On the big monitor, a live video from both Emerald's and Bubblegum's ear pieces.

I was shocked to see that.

They were in a big factory. They were on the bridge and part of it was about to break. One of the platforms broke and was dangling in the air. The frightened Emerald was holding on tight to that platform, below her was a bottomless pit that was filled with no light.

Bubblegum was on the bridge, looking tense.

" _Don't worry!_ " she said. " _Just hold on tight!_ "

She pulled out some pink gum from one of her pockets and stuck it on the middle of the dangling platform and the bridge.

" _Climb now!_ " said Bubblegum reaching her hand to Emerald. " _I will then carry you up!_ "

As there were many holes, Emerald was able to climb up the dangling platform. Bubblegum reached her hand to grab her but…

KAWHUMP!

The platform Bubblegum was standing on collapse. As a result, the bridge had TWO dangling platforms that were connected by pink gum. Emerald was holding on to the bottom platform while Bubblegum was holding on to the upper platform.

" _I'm going to sue the guy who made this unstable bridge!_ " cursed Bubblegum.

But that didn't help. The bridge was about to give way to the dangling platforms. Bubblegum was breathing heavily, trembling as she looked down. Emerald, on the other hand, was screaming and crying.

" _HELP!_ " Emerald cried. " _SOMEBODY HELP!_ "

I watched in horror. Suddenly, something flashed in front of me.

 _Flashback_

 _"_ _Where do we go now?" I yelled._

 _"_ _Just keep on running!" Belt said._

 _We were dashing in the forest, stepping over bushes, plants and broken branches. The robots were behind us and they were fast._

 _Finally, one of the robots shot out something and it hit Belt._

 _KAWRAP!_

 _It was a fish net and covered Belt. He was glued to the ground and couldn't get out of the net._

 _"_ _Clay!" called Belt._

Seeing that memory got me paralysed. How I lost Belt was almost like how those two girls were going to get killed soon.

My head started to spin. My vision became blurry. Tails noticed that I was worried.

"Rookie?" he asked. "Anything wrong?"

"Tails," I said. "Take me to Minneapolis."

"Why?"

"I need to help them."

* * *

 **Third Person's POV, Minneapolis**

"Oh shoot. Oh shoot. Oh shoot!"

The dangling platforms were about to break. Bubblegum and Emerald hold onto them for their dear lives. Suddenly, the platforms broke apart from the bridge.

KATWAP!

Bubblegum and Emerald started to fall into the bottomless pit. But then, Sebastian saw what was going on. He ran to the edge of the bridge, pulled out a teleportation smoke bomb and threw it at them.

POOF!

The second it hit them, they disappeared. A yellow smoke appeared behind Sebastian. Bubblegum and Emerald appeared from the smoke and fell on the bridge safe and sound.

The smoke bomb has teleported them to safety.

They got to their feet. Emerald was trembling and frightened.

"T-thank y-y-you," she whimpered, still shaking.

Bubblegum shivered but stopped. She looked at Sebastian but didn't bother thanking him.

Looking behind, Bubblegum saw Mecha at the end of the bridge.

Once again, they gave each other dirty glares.

"Let just get over with it," grumbled Mecha.

Bubblegum scoffed. "Where is the last survivor?"

Mecha pointed to a nearby door. The Black Squad went into the room. It was HUGE and EMPTY. There were large windows on the sides and the walls were white. In the middle, there was a young human tied up in ropes and a duct tape over his mouth.

Mecha went up to the human and took off the duct tape and the ropes.

"Thank you," whimpered the human.

He got up and ran towards the exit.

"Looks like we're done…" said Mecha before being cut off by a glitching noise.

"What's that?" asked Sebastian.

A black creature appeared from one of the walls.

"IT'S INFINITE!" said Bubblegum.

" **And this is where you die.** " Infinite said.

Red pixel cubes surrounded him and then, they flew towards the Black Squad.

The battle began.

Bubblegum, Emerald and Sebastian engaged into battle but something wasn't right about Mecha. The whole time, he was trembling and stood in a corner. He looked very worried.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, YOU IDIOT!" hissed Bubblegum as she dodged one of Infinite's attacks.

Mecha wasn't listen. He was staring at Infinite.

At one point, Emerald leapt and hit Infinite with her Blue Wispon.

WHAM!

Infinite stumbled a bit but he floated upwards and let out a huge wave of energy. The forces blew Bubblegum and Emerald away.

Taking a chance, Sebastian jumped high with his swords in his hands and was about to attack Infinite. But he froze. Sebastian couldn't move. He was just floating in front of Infinite who raised his hand.

"What the…" said Sebastian.

He then realised that Infinite was using force power. Sebastian let go off his swords and they floated too.

Sebastian thought, "This can't be g…"

His thought was cut off when Infinite did a massive force push.

WHAM!

Sebastian hit the wall and fell to the ground heavily right behind Mecha.

This caused Mecha to snap back to reality and he saw the lime green wolf lying on his back.

"Are you ok?" asked Mecha turning around.

"No," groaned Sebastian. "I'm hurt."

Out of nowhere, Sebastian's flying swords sliced behind Mecha.

CHING!

Sebastian stood still in his spot, too shocked to move. At first, he thought that the swords chopped the bird in half. But when Mecha made a confused look, Sebastian realised that the swords didn't cut him; somewhat cut his hair and tail.

The long parts of Mecha's hair and tail started to come off. They glided slowly before touching the ground behind him. His hair and tail was no longer long.

"Err…" said Bubblegum, mouth-opened.

"Ooh!" said Emerald impressed of Mecha's new 'hairstyle'.

"Oh…" said Sebastian.

Mecha's eyes widen and his beak opened widely. He looked DESTROYED.

Infinite started to come up to them. Sebastian grabbed his swords and ran up to the black creature but was kicked and banged against the wall. Infinite came close to Mecha who was dumbly looking at his chopped-off feathers with his eyes widen. He didn't move. Since Infinite was the one who chopped his feathers off, Mecha would…

" **Any last words…** " growled Infinite.

Mecha started to shake. But it wasn't fear. It was anger. "You...YOU!"

Letting out a loud screech, the berserk Mecha dashed forward to Infinite but missed.

"YOU IDIOT!" snapped Mecha as he charged towards Infinite. "NOBODY PLUCKS MY FEATHERS!"

But Mecha was no match for Infinite. Although he let out all of his anger, he was repeatedly punched, kicked and banged against the wall.

Finally, Mecha laid down on the floor on his chest. Looking up, he saw Infinite floating in front of him.

This time, Mecha didn't look angry anymore. Because of how he wasn't able to win the fight, he looked scared. His worried face came back.

"CAPTAIN!" yelled Sebastian trying to get up. "RUN!"

But Mecha was too worried to get up.

" **I will take back what's mine, Mecha,** " said Infinite.

Bubblegum was surprised of what Infinite said. Take back what's his?

"Does he know Mecha before?" thought Bubblegum.

Infinite started to form red pixel cubes.

" **Bye-bye.** "

The cubes started to come towards Mecha…

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

I was running through the streets, using my sense of smell and hearing to find the Black Squad.

At one point, I tripped. The gem I got from Death Egg fell out of my pocket and rolled across the floor.

Standing up, I grabbed the gem with my right hand and continued to run. Eventually, I found them in a large building. Peering through the high large windows, I saw Infinite about to harm an injured Mecha.

"Oh no!" I thought.

Using my Wispon, I smashed one of the windows and jumped into the room.

Infinite's red pixel cubes started to flew towards Mecha. They were going to electrocute him!

I acted fast. I stood in front of Mecha and formed a yellow shield.

SHINE! BUZZ!

The cubes hit the shield, blocking the attack and disappeared.

" **What?** " said Infinite.

My shield started to fade. I looked back at Mecha. He was surprised before closing his eyes and knocked his head lifelessly on the floor. He was unconscious.

Infinite turned his attention to me. " **I remembered you, Dark Wolf. You ran from me before. You survived then, but you throw it all away now. Curious.** "

Suddenly, many cannons appeared around Infinite.

" **This will be good-bye.** "

BANG!

The cannonballs fired and were about to hit me. I raised my right hand to make a shield but then, the cannonballs disappeared. Just like that. I didn't used my powers.

" **What the…** " sputtered Infinite. " **How is this possible? It can't be…how did you…?** "

Realising her chance, Bubblegum jumped up and was about to hit Infinite. But she was kicked to the ground.

Infinite sighed. " **It does not matter. Only two days left. Let them contemplate the inevitable until I end this once and for all.** "

Just like that, Infinite teleported out of sight.

I looked around. At the Black Squad to the unconscious Mecha. I dropped the gem. I collapsed on my knees, overwhelmed and upset for no reason.

"Rookie!" said Sebastian.

Emerald and Sebastian went up to me while Bubblegum picked herself up.

Just then. Sonic appeared from the entrance.

"Sonic!" called Bubblegum.

"I came here to see if you are all right," said Sonic before seeing an unconscious Mecha.

He ran to the bird. Finally, Mecha woke up.

Mecha got up onto his feet and saw me. He looked surprised.

"Rookie?" he said nearly choking. "Why did you…help…?"

Obviously, he was surprised that I came to help even though he was so hard on me. If I could, I would tell him the loss of my brother. It hurt so much to speak about it but a secret couldn't be kept for so long. Maybe it's time to say SOMETHING. I took a deep breath.

"I…was…afraid…" I said with difficulty. "The reason why I came back was that I don't want to lose anyone else…I lost someone…important…in…my life already."

"Who?" asked Sonic.

A tear dropped from my eye. "My older b…b…brother, Belt."

"Belt?!" said Bubblegum surprised. "The red wolf with glasses?"

I nodded.

"A-HA!" exclaimed Emerald. "I knew it! No wonder you look like Belt!"

"But how come you lost him?" asked Sebastian.

I hesitated. Before I could speak, tears started to roll down. "It was my fault...*sniff*…we were chased by Eggman's robots…*sob*…and they captured Belt. I couldn't help him and I ran away!"

I started to cry. Emerald put her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said. "It'll be ok…""

" **No it won't!** " I growled. " **What if Belt is already dead? I would just be an orphan with nobody. I already lost my parents for an unknown reason and now Belt is gone! I'm all by myself! Just a lone wolf! How would you feel if you lost somebody you loved in your life?!** "

It was silence for a while. I spoke again but my voice soften.

"Sorry…this mess was my fault. I wish I am dead already…"

"No," said Emerald. "Suicide is wrong. It solves nothing."

"But I don't think I'm worth living. I just keep on making mistakes. Screwing everything up. I'm also the reason for losing my brother and the fight we had. Why do I even exist? Why am I so pathetic? I wish that I couldn't continue my life and rather be in a deep hole."

I started to cry. I put my hands over my face. Tears kept pouring down.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

Bubblegum was shocked.

Rookie is the brother of Belt and he lost him?

She was surprised that Rookie lost someone important in his life.

Never get to see him again.

Never get to talk to him again.

Never get to be with him again.

She realised that she was also struggling with similar problem. She lost her parents, now all by herself. Bubblegum was deeply hurt and at the same time, felt sorry for Rookie.

Mecha had the same reaction. He was surprised to know how Rookie had to go on without his brother. Like them, Mecha lost someone he loved too and would never be able to reunite.

Looking down, he saw a reflection of his face on the shiny floor. He spotted the scar on his right eye. He knew what the scar meant. He got it for doing a horrible mistake and he didn't want to do it again.

Mecha, for the first time ever, realised how bad he was to almost everyone. It was time to change.

He took a deep breath and spoke.

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

"Guys…" said Mecha. "I'm…sorry…"

"What did you do this time?" asked Sonic.

I looked at Mecha. He looked guilty.

"Sorry Sebastian for not listening to you," he said sadly.

"Sorry Emerald for being mean to you. Sorry Bubblegum for being such a jerk. Sorry Rookie for being so harsh. I'm sorry for all."

Bubblegum looked surprised. "You…you mean it?"

Mecha nodded. "I'll try."

"T-that was the thing I ever wanted to hear. I mean really."

Bubblegum then came up to me, knelt on her knees and touched my scar.

"Don't worry," she said softly. "I promise that I'll help you find Belt and bring him back to you. I promise."

I was overwhelmed by her caring nature. She opened her arms for a hug and I embraced it. I could feel my wet face and my tears felt onto the floor, making dark spots.

* * *

 **Resistance HQ, 29/07 (at 12 pm)**

We arrived back at the HQ. I was still in a grimly mood. As we entered the HQ, Knuckles was there.

"Rookie," he said. "We heard everything that happened."

I nodded sadly.

"Sorry that you lost your brother," said Amy. "Hopefully, we'll find him."

I nodded again.

"Knuckles?" said Mecha holding his chopped-off feathers. "Is there any duct tape and super glue?"

For the first time, I noticed that Mecha's hair and tail was shorter than before. The Resistance Team noticed that.

Vector and Charmy started to snicker but quickly stopped when Mecha gave them a menacing look.

"There's duct tape and glue in the gadget room," said Knuckles.

Mecha nodded and gloomily walked slowly to the room where the Wispons are kept.

Knuckles looked at us. "Black Squad. It was nice of you guys to help us. We appreciate your offer. But for now, you can rest. You don't need to do any more missions."

"What?" I said.

"But Knuckles," said Sebastian. "We want to help."

"We could use your help," said Silver. "But your teamwork isn't improving. You can't seem to work with each other. If we let you continue, can you handle it?"

Bubblegum looked guilty. "I…er…I guess so…"

Suddenly, a lightbulb went over my head.

"Guys," I said. "Can I and Bubblegum be excused for a while?"

"I'm fine with that," said Knuckles. "As long as it isn't another fight."

I took Bubblegum's hand and took her to the gadget room.

"What are you doing?" she said.

I told her my plan and she sighed. "I guess we could try."

As we entered, Mecha saw us while holding a roll of duct tape and a tube of super glue. His feathers were placed on a nearby table.

"Hey, Mecha," said Bubblegum. "Do you need help?"

Mecha waved his hand impatiently. "Qualunque Cosa. You can."

He sat on a stool. Bubblegum took the feathers and the glue, and started to try connect them back on Mecha's head.

"Um…Mecha," I said. "I'm sorry for what I've done to your shirt. I couldn't control myself."

"It's ok," said Mecha. "It's not that expensive."

I took a deep breath and said, "Why do you like to bully others?"

Mecha sighed sadly. "Because it makes me feel better. It takes my mind off my…"

He hesistated.

"What is it?" I asked.

Mecha started to feel uncomfortable. "Um…Bubblegum, can you tell him?"

"I'm not going to," Bubblegum said. "You have to."

Mecha took a deep breath and said, "I bully because I want to forget about my PARENTS' DIVORCE. Before I was hatched from my egg, I heard my parents yelling with each other. My mother took me to Australia where I grew up. I never got to see how my father looked like. Not from a photo or a memory book. I never knew him. I started to follow his footsteps by studying hard and hoping I was as smart as him. But I overdid it and I started to brag about myself. When we got permission to help the Resistance, I wanted to join in because not only I got to be a hero but I was hoping I would get to see my father. He might recognize me for saving the world and I might have the chance to see him. But I guessed that all I wanted was MORE POWER."

It was silence for a while. I was surprised. Even though Mecha was smart, he didn't know how to be happy nor take his mind off his parents' divorce.

Mecha continued. "What you did was the opposite of how I thought of you."

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for saving me from Infinite. I admit that you are a good champion. You're a great Resistance soldier. After all, rookies can be FRESH. I even like your style of clothing."

"Um…Thanks," I said. "But it's hard trying to not screw up. It takes more in becoming be a hero."

"Listen. Heroes aren't about winning all the time, getting awards and praises. I believed in that for a long time. But mostly, heroes are like ordinary people, making mistakes but learning from them later on and doing the right thing. Now I know."

Finally, Bubblegum finished. The chopped-off feathers were back on Mecha's head. They looked normal but except the fact that there were black stripes (the duct tape) on them.

Mecha tried his hair feathers first. He spun them around. They didn't break but he doesn't looked satisfied.

"It doesn't really feel the same," he grumbled.

"I guessed that was why you were afraid of scissors," I chuckled.

"Damare. Emerald knows that I hate haircuts. I suffer Peladophobia and Aichmophobia."

"What does those phobias mean?"

"I'll explain later,"

Mecha looked at Bubblegum and said, "Um…thanks."

"I think it's time for you two to make amends," I said. "We need to learn to work together."

These two heard me and they shook hands with each other.

"Sorry," said Mecha. "For being a jerk."

"Same," said Bubblegum. "Sorry for being a bit nasty."

"So are we a team now?" I questioned.

They both nodded. Looks like they'll get along.

As we went out of the gadget room, the Red Squad (Mic, Richard and Minty) came in.

"Phew!" said Mic. "We almost got squashed in Africa!"

"Hey, Mecha," called Richard. "Why is there duct tape on your hair and tail?"

"Infinite cut them off," said Bubblegum while Mecha blushed in embarrassment. "I just put them back on."

"But bald is beautiful!" said Richard teasingly.

Mecha winced. "I'm scared of being bald."

"You would look nice though," said Minty. But when she looked at me, her smile disappeared. "Rookie? What happened to your right arm?"

"Oh…um…I accidently cut myself…" I lied.

"But I could see a bit of black underneath those bandages," pointed out Minty.

I gulped. I didn't wrapped the bandage FULLY around my arm. Before I could make another lie, Minty went up to me and RIPPED the bandage off.

RIP!

"Ow!" I said. "That hurts!"

"What the heck?!" exclaimed Minty.

This caused attention to everyone. My arm was partly covered in black. But it didn't reached the elbow part.

"What?" said Sonic. "Why is there….?"

"What is that?" said Knuckles.

"Is it the Black Death?" asked Emerald.

"The Black Death doesn't exist anymore," grumbled Bubblegum.

"Wait a minute," said Mecha.

Mecha came up to me and looked at my partly black covered arm. He then looked at my rings.

Mecha snapped his fingers. "Fe'I got i!" (which means 'I got it' in Welsh)

"What is it?" I asked.

"Rookie, when was the first time you got those rings?"

"Belt said that he found them in a cave a long time ago."

"A-ha! Now I know. These rings are powerful. There are two pair of rings; one pair that holds the power of light and the other holds the power of dark. The last owners of those rings past away and the rings were hidden in a cave, waiting for its next owner who will use and wear them for life. Belt wears the green rings, right?"

"Yes he does."

"That means that Belt has the power of light. You, on the other hand, have the power of dark. Belt must have locked your powers but accidently unlocked them yesterday. Therefore, you are known as the Dark Wolf!"

"So that's why Infinite called him that!" said Bubblegum.

"But that doesn't make ANY SENSE!" I said. "The rings I have only provide yellow energy and not dark energy."

"That's just the beginning," Mecha continued. "Every time you stress, those rings will cause your body to cover in darkness."

"And what will happen if Rookie is fully covered?" asked Sonic.

"I remember in a nightmare," I said. "I met Infinite and I experienced being covered in darkness. He said I'll be 'part of his' soon."

"That means that…" Mecha said before his voice trailed off. "…you'll…be evil…the darkness would take over your mind and you would eventually turn on us…"

I was shocked. If I were fully covered by darkness, I would became evil. I started to worry. I felt the darkness continued to spread.

"ROOKIE! Calm down!" said Mecha grabbing my hand.

I listened and the darkness stopped.

"I say that we should take him away before it's too late," said Shadow.

"No," said Mecha. "We can't just dump him. We need to take care of him and let him learn how to control his feelings."

He looked at me.

"Please don't be worried. If you do, you'll be close to changing sides soon. But I promise. I promise that I'll help you get back Belt. I promise."

* * *

 **AN: Truths are revealed; Clay showed his feelings and we learnt a bit about Mecha's backstory. Looks like the team will slowly learn how to get along with each other.** **But that's not all. Clay even discovered the dark danger he's in. Could he control himself?**

 **In the next chapter, the truth about Infinite will be revealed to everyone. But out of the Black Squad, who KNOWS Infinite before?**

 **See you in a few days time!**


	8. World Missions

**AN: Hello my rock 'n' rollers!**

 **Chapter 8 is here. I hoped you enjoy it! (Note: Egypt is the Green Hill Zone (Desert) Setting of this story. Also, events from Rise of Infinite comic and Episode Shadow will be included but SOMEONE from the Black Squad WILL be included in those events.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 - World Missions**

 **Egypt, 29/07 (at 3 pm)**

" _The enemy's factory is inside the pyramid,_ " said Knuckles. " _I can send reinforcements if you don't think you can handle it._ "

"No need!" said Sonic. "The two of us are more than enough! We'll blitz the place and free those prisoners. Right, partner?"

I nodded.

I and Sonic were on a mission in Egypt. We were supposed to break into one of Eggman's factories and free the prisoners there.

Egypt was just an empty desert but at this time, Eggman built a large factory there. The main factory was a tall pyramid. It looked similar to the originals ones, except that there was a cut-off part on the top.

We were able to take out the robots in front of us. Sonic used his boost attack and I had my Wispon and powers.

We were running close to the pyramid. Suddenly, Mic called over the radio.

" _Guys,_ " he said. " _I found an entrance at the top of the pyramid. It would be too long to get up there._ "

"No worries!" said Sonic. "It doesn't matter what obstacles they put in our way. We'll blow past everything they throw at us!"

I looked at him and yelled, "Race you to the top!"

Using my special powers, I ran in a blazing speed, destroying everything in my path. I came to the side of the pyramid but I didn't stop. I continued to run and eventually ran on that side.

Behind me was Sonic. He was running almost at the same speed as I was. A blue burst of energy surrounded him. I had the same burst of energy, only yellow.

He smiled. I smiled back. It was kind of fun.

Finally, we were at the top of the pyramid. The entrance hatch opened and we jumped in.

But when we did, we were falling through a long hole. At the bottom, there was a platform. I wondered if it was a good idea to NOT look before jumping.

" _Be careful, guys,_ " called Amy. " _Stay alert._ "

"Heh, this should be fun," said Sonic.

At that moment, red lasers started to appear from out of the tunnel wall.

I groaned. "Why did you say that this should be fun?"

It wasn't easy falling in a long tunnel with lasers in it. I'm pretty sure that you should not try it.

I was able to get past every laser without being hit. Except for the last one. I was falling when I heard Sonic yelled, "BEHIND YOU!"

There was a laser I was going to hit so I quickly jerked my head away.

I landed heavily on the ground. When I got up, I saw a piece of white fur floating down and landed in front of me. It didn't took me long to know that the laser chopped a tiny part of one of my quills off.

"That was close!" I said shivering.

"You're ok?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah, well that was 'fun'," I said sarcastically.

Sonic noted my sarcasm but just smiled. "But skydiving is such a breeze."

"I heard once that you failed to land two times from 'skydiving'." *****

"That was just 2 years ago. Let's go."

It was huge inside that pyramid. There were machines, corridors and gears there. There were also robots all over the place.

We were able to make it through the terrifying army of robots and landed into the main area of the factory.

"That was a cake walk!" said Sonic. "Too easy!"

" _I don't know why I was worried,_ " called Amy. " _The prisoners are not far. I tracked them down. The prison is near you guys._ "

We walked across the bridge which led to the prison room. From around the place, there were huge black and silver machines.

"Ok, I'll admit," I said. "This is fun. I'm getting a bit sweaty and sticky."

Sonic looked at me and then laughed a bit.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I think I know why you are 'a bit sweaty and sticky'," he chuckled.

I looked down. At my right side, near the armpit part, there was a LARGE dark brown smudge on my vest.

"How the…" I said.

I saw where it came from. My right vest pocket. I opened it up and saw a big sludge of dark chocolate. My energy bars' wrappers were seen but they all had HOLEs in them.

"Great," I said. "My energy bars must have been opened and melted in my vest."

"You better clean your vest soon," said Sonic.

"You're right," I said as I dipped my finger in the dark chocolate sauce from my pocket and licked it.

"I guess you like dark chocolate,"

"Yeah, I like it."

"Hey, that reminds me that we haven't get to know each other yet."

"Huh?"

"You haven't answer my questions yet. What's your favourite colour? What music do you like?"

This time, I tried to keep up with those questions.

"Um…I like the colour turquoise and I listen any music but mostly rock pop," I said.

"See," smiled Sonic. "Now we get to know each other! How come the rest of the Black Squad don't know you before?"

"It's because I don't live in their town. I lived with my brother in the lonely woods. I don't have that many friends until now. I'm just a lone wolf."

"Is that why you don't feel comfortable in having conversation?"

"Kind of. I worry of what I say. But I felt safe being with and talking to Belt. He is like a father figure and my only friend…uh…"

My voice trailed off. I stopped walking. I couldn't stop thinking about Belt. My head started to feel heavy again. My vision became blurry and dizzy. I felt something that need to come out of mouth again.

"Is something wrong?" asked Sonic.

I groaned and quickly looked the other way. I couldn't help but do a small howl again. When I finished, I quickly covered my mouth in embarrassment.

"You're ok, Rookie?" asked Sonic.

"I'm ok…" I said blushing. "I thought Belt might be here."

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find him."

"I hope so."

We continued to head to the prison.

* * *

It's been two days of helping the Resistance and I still couldn't find my brother, Belt. I was still hopeful that I would find him.

It was a frightening but yet exciting journey. Though I was still not brave or acrobatic, I was able to face the danger and improved my fighting skills.

I became close to Sonic. I was surprised that one of the greatest heroes became a great friend of mine. He acted like my older brother (since Sonic and Belt are the same age). ******

I even became friends with the Black Squad; mostly, Bubblegum and Mecha. Bubblegum sometimes called me an idiot. Mecha bragged about himself. These two were slowly learning how to get along with each other but we were a good team.

But there was something that I couldn't ignore; those two might be hiding something.

Bubblegum looked a bit sad at times, staring around blankly.

Mecha seemed to be scared and worried every time he saw Infinite.

I should've ask them what's wrong because I had shared my secret but I felt like that I shouldn't. All I could do was to stay quiet.

On 30/07 at 9 pm, I came back to the HQ from a mission.

"Hey there, Rookie!" called Mecha. "How did it go?"

"It was exhausting," I said. "It's all right."

I sat with Bubblegum and Mecha. They were sitting near a large box with some food on it.

While eating, Richard came by. He flashed a smile at Bubblegum and Bubblegum flirted a bit.

Mecha looked curious. "Why are they acting like that?" he whispered to me with a mouthful of salad.

"They became a couple yesterday," I said, half-smiling and half-disgusted.

The day before, Bubblegum and Richard went on a mission. During the mission, they eventually became close. Maybe a bit TOO close.

Turning back, Bubblegum picked up an apple and was about to bite when…

CRASH!

There was a loud shattering noise coming from the hallway. Emerald was groaning in pain.

"Be right back," Bubblegum said, standing up and running into the hallway.

She left her apple. I got a brain-wash. I took her apple.

"What are you doing?" asked Mecha.

Slowly, I inserted my fangs into the apple and sucked the juice inside like a vampire.

"Oh!" chuckled Mecha. "I see what you're doing!"

Meanwhile, we could hear noises from the hallway.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Bubblegum. "Are you ok?"

"I think I'm fine!" said Emerald.

"Let me help you up."

"Thank you."

One second later, another noise was heard.

BLARP!

Mecha started to giggle. I nearly choked. We couldn't see what was going on but we could TELL. Emerald had BROKE WIND in front of Bubblegum's face.

"OH EMERALD!" Bubblegum hissed.

"If you agree that this isn't pleasant, then I'm not going to carry along my jar of pickled eggs anymore," said Emerald.

Bubblegum sighed and started to walk back.

"Quick," said Mecha. "She's coming."

I quickly sucked the remaining juices of the apple and placed it back on the original spot. As Bubblegum entered the room, Mecha put his goggles over his eyes. The pink cat didn't notice and plopped aside us.

She got her apple and bite it. The second she chomped it, her face screwed up.

SPEW!

Bubblegum spat out a mouthful of chewed-up apple flesh mixed with saliva at Mecha. Luckily, his goggles protected him.

I couldn't help but laughed. Mecha started to laugh. Bubblegum wasn't impressed that I changed her apple into a ROTTEN one.

"You idiot, Rookie," she grumbled.

She threw her apple away and changed the subject.

"Rookie? Um…is it ok if I talk to you about Belt?"

I showed no sign of disturbance. "Ok."

"So how was it when you were with him?"

"It was all good. Belt was like my only friend. He made me feel safe. Even though we don't have everything in common, we got along pretty well."

"You're lucky," said Mecha as he wiped his goggles. "I got TWO BROTHERS and THREE SISTERS. It was hard for me to get along with them."

"What about you guys?" I said. "How did you find Belt when he came to your town?"

"I don't know," said Mecha. "I saw him many times but never spoken to him."

"Belt is a good person," said Bubblegum. "I and Emerald usually bumped into him and we had good chats. I wanted him to either watch or join the tournaments but he refused to. Sometimes, he was embarrassed by Emerald because she accidently called him 'Bean'."

"So he's a friend of yours?" I wondered.

"Yes he is, but I don't understand why he didn't want to live in our town."

Just then, Sonic and Tails got into the room.

"We found a way to stop Eggman," Sonic announced.

"How?" asked Knuckles.

"Well, Eggman is using the Phantom Ruby," said Tails. "We found out that the Phantom Ruby's source of power is from Death Egg. If we destroy the Death Egg, the Phantom Ruby will be weakened."

"That sounds easy," said Mecha.

"Not really. The Death Egg will be hard to get in. They started to have a more complicated security system. They have weapons that disallow anyone from entering. There is still a way. At Chemical Plant, there's a machine there that could shut down the defensive system at Death Egg."

"Piece of cake!" said Sonic. "We just have to shut down the weapons at Death Egg and then blow it up!"

"Alright then," said Knuckles. "Black Squad, I want you to go to the Chemical Plant and shut down the Death Egg's weapons. Sonic will then go to Death Egg and self-destruct it."

"But, sir," said Mic. "There's a country that needed help and there's no other available squad."

Emerald and Sebastian entered the room. "We'll go to that country," said Emerald. "Rookie, Bubblegum and Mecha can go to the Chemical Plant."

"You're sure?" said Bubblegum looking worried.

"We'll be fine!" said Emerald smiling.

Bubblegum sighed.

"Let's go already!" said Sonic. "Only one day left so let's shut down Death Egg! Then, we can kick both Eggman's and Infinite's butt!"

The Resistance Team cheered in response. But Mecha winced when he heard that they would fight Infinite.

"Anything wrong?" asked Bubblegum.

"Nothing," said Mecha quickly. "Just nothing!"

I looked at Mecha suspiciously. He had a thing with Infinite.

"What's going on?" I thought.

* * *

 **Green Hill Zone, 30/07 (at 9:45 pm)**

We arrived at Green Hill Zone. Me, Bubblegum and Mecha jumped from Richard's fighter plane and landed safely. We watched as Richard flew the fighter plane away.

"This seems peaceful," said Bubblegum looking around.

The whole land was filled with green grass and Dirt Mountains. There were some bushes and flowers. The sky was midnight black with stars and some clouds in the sky. It would a good place to camp…if there's CABINS and TOILETS.

The moon was also in the sky. It was shining bright. Looking at it, gave me an urge to howl again.

I realised something. "Um…guys, I lost my Wispon."

Bubblegum and Mecha even realised that their Wispons were missing.

"Where did they go?" said Mecha.

"I think we accidently let them go in the sky," chuckled Bubblegum sheepishly.

"Huh?"

At that moment, mine and Bubblegum's Wispons fell from the sky. They were about to hit Mecha. But he acted quickly. He did a back flip and our Wispons landed in front of him.

"So that's where they went," I said picking up mine.

"But Mecha's Wispon is missing," pointed out Bubblegum.

Mecha shrugged. "At least I didn't get…"

CLONK!

Just before Mecha could finish what he was saying, HIS WISPON fell from out of the blue and hit him in the head.

"…hit on the head but that already happened," I said finishing his sentence.

Mecha stood up, rubbing his head in pain. He then kicked his Wispon before picking it up.

"Let's go," he said before mumbling something in Korean.

We ran off. I was going at high speed and for some reason, so did Bubblegum and Mecha!

"How come you could go as fast like Sonic?" I asked.

"We don't have powers like you," said Mecha. "But we have high-speed shoes."

As we ran across the land and besides some mountains, there was a loud stomping. There were gaps in between the mountains that we could see through. It was some kind of machine.

"What is that?" Bubblegum said.

" _It's a multi-league battlemech!_ " called Amy from the radio. " _The energy readings are off the charts!"_

"Aw! C'mon!" I grumbled. "Now we have to fight a 'multi-league' robot!"

"Not unless we are caught!" said Bubblegum.

We continued to run. We went through a lot of obstacles and destroyed robots. The battlemech didn't see us yet but we could hear it.

" _You guys need to try to distract it for a while._ _Diversionary tactics are all about the decoy you use,_ " called Knuckles. " _Just go wild and get its attraction._ "

"Get its attraction?!" I said. " **We would be killed if we get its attraction!** "

"Just chill, Rookie," said Mecha.

" _But don't push your luck though,_ " called Amy.

"But why do we need to distract it?" I said.

"We need to throw it off our track before we reach the Chemical Plant," said Bubblegum. "If not, we'll never make it. I'll distract that mech before catching up with you guys."

"Wait!"

But Bubblegum was already gone. She used her grappling gun to fly to the other side, where that 'battlemech' was.

For a while, it was just me and Mecha. We were running through the land and eventually, got onto a clear path.

We stopped and in the distance, there was smoke from behind tall mountains.

"The Chemical Plant must be there," said Mecha.

"But where is Bubblegum?" I said. "We can't go without her."

Just then, Bubblegum came flying through the air and landed in front of us.

"That was quick!" said Mecha. "And just in time."

"I led that machine into a narrow cave," said Bubblegum. "It COUDLN'T get out and now we have more time to get to the Chemical Plant…"

Far away, I heard a stomp. My ears twitched.

"What is it?" asked Mecha.

"I think that battlemech is trying to get out of that cave," I said.

The stomping became louder. My ears twitched more. This time, Bubblegum and Mecha could hear it.

" _There's a massive source of energy approaching!_ " called Amy.

Right behind us was a GIGANTIC EIGHT-LEGGED CRAB ROBOT WITH HUGE SPIKES.

Mecha's eyes widen. "Holy…"

"CRAB!" I yelled.

"RUN!" yelled Bubblegum.

None of us needed to be told what to do. We ran with the giant robot chasing behind us. It crashed through many rock formations, causing rocks flinged at us.

We were able to dodge them…all except Mecha who kept repeatedly being hit on the head with rocks.

CLONK! TONG! CLONK!

"Will this stupid lobster cut it out?!" snapped Mecha after one painful hit by a sharp edged rock.

"Rookie!" called Bubblegum. "Tie it up!"

I nodded, took my breath and leapt. I was flying fast towards the giant robot while quickly aimed my grappling gun at a side rock formation. Then, I started to swing around the robot. It wasn't easy work because I had to run on the ground at some points.

Finally, I was able to wrap the robot's legs up. I cut the cable of my grappling gun and flew upwards. As I flew, I saw the robot tripping over and fell down defeated.

CRASH!

Bubblegum and Mecha quickly ran before the robot hit them. They stopped and took their breaths.

I was flying too fast, couldn't stop and was about to fall onto them.

"Maybe I could…" I thought.

I tried using my powers but nothing happened. At the moment, two things were clear; first, I have no power to fly and second, I couldn't stop.

WHAM!

I slammed into Bubblegum and Mecha. We all tumbled, hitting the ground very hard.

We laid on the ground for a while. No one made a move. Only our breaths were heard.

It was quiet…until this; Mecha made a snicker, Bubblegum made a chuckle and I made a laugh.

Eventually, we started laughing really loudly like CRAZY.

"That was fun!" I laughed.

"We should try that again!" joked Mecha as we got up to our feet.

"Best not to!" said Bubblegum.

"There still a lot to do," I said. "Let's go."

* * *

 **Chemical Plant, 30/07 (at 10:30 pm)**

"Dang," muttered Mecha as we crawled through the air vents. "I wished I brought a torch along."

"Just be grateful that we got Rookie," said Bubblegum.

True since I got night vision. I was in front, Mecha behind me and last was Bubblegum.

We got into the Chemical Plant but almost got caught. Luckily, we were able to get into the air vents. The downside was that the air vents were a bit too tight for us to go through (though we are small) and it was completely filled with cobwebs. It was dark but that wasn't a problem for me.

"Are we there yet?" asked Bubblegum.

Mecha checked his tracking device. "We are close to the computer room."

I saw on my right was a door hatch.

"Should we go through there?" I asked.

"I think it's safe," said Mecha. "Plus, the computer room is not that far."

I opened the door hatch and went into the room. Bubblegum and Mecha joined me. But when we got into the room, it was too dark for my friends to see.

"Oh great," grumbled Mecha. "I REALLY wish I have a torch."

"You said that for the second time," said Bubblegum.

"Rookie, is there a light switch here?"

I looked at him, my golden eyes glowing in the dark.

"There's a light switch on the wall behind you," I said.

"Right there?" said Mecha as he turned around and…

BUMP!

…bumped into the wall. He did some curses in Chinese before trying to reach for the light switches.

"My! Your hand is so COLD!" said Bubblegum.

"I'm not touching you," I said.

"Neither am I," said Mecha touching the wall. "I'm trying to turn on the lights."

"Then who's touching my hand?" Bubblegum said.

I looked at her and saw who it was.

"Um…you don't really wanted to find out," I said.

"There's the lights," said Mecha.

FLICK!

The room was filled with lights. At this moment, Bubblegum and Mecha could see properly. Bubblegum realised who was holding her; a metal robot.

"YARGHHH!" yelled Bubblegum letting go and kicking the robot in front of her.

CLONK!

The robot fell on its back. It didn't get up.

"This must be where the robots were built," said Mecha.

True to word, there were robots all lined up, in neat rows.

"We don't need to worry about them," said Mecha. "They don't look like they're powered yet."

He checked his tracking device.

"The computer room is right there connected to another room," he said pointing to a large door.

"So this is where we go?" asked Bubblegum.

"Yep."

We went through that large door, entering a large lab. It was HUGE. There were huge tubes that looked like the ones people use to create new beings. Those tubes were filled with translucent green goo.

"What are inside those?" I said as I peered at one of them.

WHUMP!

An unattached hand was seen inside that tube. It started to bang the wall.

"Yah!" I yelled in fright.

"Wow," said Bubblegum surprised. "That reminds me of that horror sci-fi movie I watched last week."

"Why would you want to watch horror movies?"

As we walked across the lab to the path of the computer room, I could see that there was a lot of living and dead beings in the tubes. They were in different shapes, sizes and colour.

"Do you think that's where Infinite might be made?" asked Bubblegum.

"I think so," I said. "Infinite must be created by Eggman."

"Actually no," said Mecha matter-of-factly. "Before this whole incident happened, Infinite must be given powers by Eggman. This couldn't be where he is given his powers because none of those tubes have water in it. The green goo is only used when making new beings. If there is one with water in it, than Infinite would be 'made' here."

When Mecha finished, he quickly closed his beak with his hands. He looked WORRIED. I eyed at him suspiciously.

"How did you know that Infinite was once an actual person?" I asked.

"Nothing! Nothing!" Mecha said quickly. "Just a bit of brain fart…I mean…"

He looked very TENSE. He turned around and continued to walk. But I could hear him muttering in another language.

"How does he know Infinite?" I thought.

Bubblegum seemed to have same thought as I did. She was looking at Mecha with concern.

At last, we arrived in the computer room. Inside, there were large computers on desks in a circular pattern. There were even large monitors sticking out from the desks and larger ones on the walls.

"So how does this work?" asked Bubblegum.

"I'll do it," said Mecha.

He started to type on the computer. As I watched, something came to my mind.

"Um…Mecha," I said. "Can you search if my brother is still alive?"

Mecha shrugged. "I guess I could."

Mecha continued to type on the computer. On one of the big monitors that was connected to the computer Mecha was using, showed a person searcher.

"So what's your brother's name?" asked Mecha.

"Belt," I said. "Belt Colourz."

Mecha typed that name in the search box and one result appeared:

 _Belt Colourz_

 _Current State: Alive_

 _Current Location: Unknown_

I was surprised.

"Belt's alive?!" I said loudly.

"No way!" said Bubblegum.

"I'm surprised the guy is still living," said Mecha.

"So he have been held captive by the Eggman Empire this whole time!" said Bubblegum.

While Bubblegum and Mecha were talking, I couldn't stop thinking about Belt. Just couldn't believe that he was still alive. But he was captured by the Eggman Empire so what were they doing with him?

I started to feel sad and lonely again.

I looked down grimly. I felt the darkness started to spread across my arm.

"Rookie," said Bubblegum.

I looked up at her sadly. She touched my arm.

"Don't worry," she said. "It is still my promise that I'll help you find Belt."

That was helpful because the darkness didn't spread across my whole arm, just around my elbow.

"So now we know where Belt is," said Mecha. "NOW we have to shut the Death Egg down."

Mecha typed faster and then, a message appeared on the same monitor.

 _ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO SHUT DOWN ALL THE DEFENSIVE SYSTEM OF DEATH EGG?_

Mecha smiled excitedly before pressing on the YES button. The monitor showed this:

LOADING…

 _SHUT DOWN COMPLETE._

"Yes!" chirped Mecha. "The Death Egg's defensive system is shut down! Eggman wouldn't be able to turn them back on again!"

"Well that was easy," said Bubblegum leaning on one of the computers. "Good thing that we got y…"

BEEP!

Bubblegum accidently hit a big red button. All the monitors and computer screens buzzed before switching to a red screen. A timer appeared on them.

" _SELF-DESTRUCT IN 5 MINUTES!_ " said a voice from the computer room.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Bubblegum pressed the red button to stop the countdown but that only made it worse.

" _SELF-DESTRUCT IN 2 MINUTES!_ "

"Nice one, butterfinger," grumbled Mecha.

"How am I supposed to know that there is a self-destruct button here?" hissed Bubblegum.

"We got to go right now!" I said.

We ran off.

Out of the computer room.

Out of the lab.

Out of the robot room.

We didn't use the air vent to get out. There is NO WAY we're going back in those dirty vents. We took the harder way and went through many hallways and corridors.

Finally, we found an exit.

"TAKE COVER!" yelled Mecha as we ran out from the factory.

We ran up a mountain and when we reached the top, we hid behind a small rock formation. The Chemical Plant was about to explode!

5…4…3…2…1…

I covered my ears and closed my eyes, and waited…

Crickets.

Nothing happened.

No explosions.

No loud noises.

No flames.

No debris falling.

Just nothing.

Bubblegum and Mecha both looked confused, as I was. We looked up from the rock formation. The Chemical Plant was just in its normal state. It looked fine.

"I don't get it," said Bubblegum scratching her head. "Isn't it going to ex…?"

KABOOM!

Everything went white. My ears were ringing. It took me a while to come back to my senses. When I could see and hear properly, I saw what was in the factory's spot.

A HUGE EXPLOSION.

Flames and smoke came out. Flying pieces were all over the place. I could even feel the heat.

I looked at the explosion. I was too shocked to speak. Then, I started talking.

"Guys?" I said. "Any comments?"

"That…was…the greatest explosion I ever seen!" yelled Bubblegum. "And we get to see it in REALITY!"

"Good thing that we're not in that blast," said Mecha in relief.

Knuckles called over the radio.

" _Good work, guys. Sonic is now heading to the Death Egg. Mic will pick you up._ "

As Knuckles finished his sentence, a large piece of metal came flying and fell on Mecha's head.

CLONK!

Mecha fell backwards groaning and cursed in pain.

"You're ok?" I said as I helped him to his feet.

"Why me?" Mecha groaned.

* * *

 **Resistance HQ, 30/07 (at 11 pm)**

Arriving back, we entered the HQ.

The Resistance Team was looking at the big monitor which showed a live video of the Death Egg.

"What's going on?" asked Bubblegum. "Have Sonic destroyed it yet?"

"Soon," said Knuckles. "He was able to set the Death Egg on self-destruct and now on his way back."

I looked up at the monitor. There was a fighter plane flying away from the Death Egg.

"I think it's going to blow up now," I said.

At that moment, the Death Egg blew up. It was gone forever.

Everyone cheered. I cheered as well.

"Yeah!" said Bubblegum as she high-fived me. "Death Egg is finally destroyed and the Phantom Ruby is powerless!"

"I just hope that Belt isn't in there," I said.

"Nope he isn't," said Knuckles. "Sonic checked there but Belt wasn't in the Death Egg. We'll find him."

"Imagine how Eggman would think when his Death Egg exploded!" chuckled Mecha.

I and Bubblegum laughed as we both visualised how Eggman reacted to that fort's explosion.

A few minutes later, Sonic returned with a handful of Resistance soldiers.

"Great news!" he said. "The Death Egg is destroyed once and for all. Also, the Resistance soldiers were able to save all the survivors of the world!"

A round of applause and cheered was heard.

"Wait," called Bubblegum. "Where's…?"

She was cut off by a munching sound coming from the hallway.

"And there they come," said Richard.

Emerald was the first to come in. She was holding a big bowl of sushi, with her mouth full of seaweed and rice. Behind her was the grumpy Sebastian but something wasn't right.

Sebastian's clothing was different. He still wore his utility belt and boots but he looked different. He's wearing a red jacket, a silver and yellow camouflage vest, white gloves, and black pants with yellow stripes. He wasn't wearing his bandannas. Instead, he had a silver and black cap with his ears poking out from it.

Flying behind him were his drones, carrying his robot suit, his bandannas, gloves and pants which looked a bit puke green and had bits of seaweed and rice.

"Why are you dress so differently?" asked Mecha.

"And why were you guys so late?" asked Knuckles. "You were screaming over the radio and you should have been back the same time as Rookie, Bubblegum and Mecha."

"Well," said Sebastian annoyed. "After our mission in Japan, I lost track of Emerald. It took me a while to find her and I found her in a sushi restaurant, completely OVERFED with sushi. In fact, I tried to take her out of the door but she couldn't go through."

I realised what Sebastian was talking about. So did the others. Some of the Resistance team started to snicker and whispered to each other. Bubblegum's eyes widen up. She glanced at Emerald (who was still eating) in shock.

"However," continued Sebastian. "I was able to get her out and rolled her down the streets but we got attacked by robots. I fought them but I accidently pressed on Emerald and she spewed everywhere."

As the image of that event flashed in my mind, my face slowly turned green instead of my blue-green fur colour. But Sebastian wasn't finished yet.

"The vomit was able to electrify the robots but I got covered with puke so I went to take a shower and got some new clothes. But again, we got attacked by another group of robots."

When Sebastian finished, almost most of the Resistance Team fell to pieces. They were laughing loudly. I felt sick. Mecha looked at Sebastian in disgust. Bubblegum stood for a while before glaring at Emerald.

"YOU IDIOT!" yelled Bubblegum angrily. "YOU IDIOTIC, SUSHI-EATING, LAME-BRAINED, FORGETFUL IDIOT!"

"For what?" asked Emerald with an innocent smile.

"SOLDIERS DON'T EAT WHEN THEY'RE ON MISSIONS!"

"But I was hungry!"

"YOU'VE ALREADY EATEN DINNER!"

"I can't help it."

Bubblegum groaned.

"How can I blame you?" Bubblegum grumbled. "There are many people like you who are naïve."

"Guess so," smiled Emerald. "Want one sushi?"

"No thanks."

I excused from having any sushi because the thought of eating made me feel a bit nauseous after hearing Sebastian's revolting story.

"So what's new?" asked Sebastian.

"Great news!" said Knuckles. "The Death Egg is destroyed which meant that the Phantom Ruby is powerless!"

"Good!" said Emerald finishing up the last of her sushi. "Now we don't have to worry about Eggman's plan to destroy the world!"

"There are still more to do," said Knuckles. "Tomorrow in the early morning, we'll head to Eggman's Empire Fortress where we'll fight them so that they would not cause any more destruction."

He then looked at me.

"We might find your brother there."

I smiled.

"Finally!" said Sonic. "After six months, it's Eggman's turn to get his butt kicked. That goes the same for Infinite!"

The Resistance Soldiers cheered in reply.

"Yeah! We'll be able to defeat Infinite for once!"

"So much for him being called 'Infinite'."

"That masked clown won't stand a chance!"

"It's his turn to be crushed!"

"He'll pay for all of this!"

"Hope that we'll rip his mask off."

As I heard them, I noticed something was wrong with Mecha. As soon as Sonic said about Infinite, he started to have the same worried face as I saw before. Mecha looked pretty tense.

Finally, he took a deep breath and raised his hand. "Ahem."

"What is it?" said Sonic.

Mecha started to fumble a bit. "Um…you might think I'm crazy but...I…don't….w-want…mmm…"

He was talking with difficulty. Then he blurted out, "I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT OR PUT AN END TO INFINITE."

This caught everyone's attention. We all looked at Mecha.

"Did I misheard you?" asked Sonic.

"No," said Mecha. "I'm not kidding."

"What? Don't you want to get a revenge from Infinite?"

Mecha sighed. "I know him longer than any of you."

"Wait, when did you know him before?" Knuckles said.

Mecha looked at Bubblegum, Emerald and Sebastian.

"Guys?" he said. "Do you remember the time I went on my last two trips?"

"Yes," said Sebastian. "What about it?"

* * *

 **Third Person's POV, Flashback (one year ago)**

 _It was a hot July in the rocky sandy landscapes. The sun was shining bright and the sky was pure blue. There were no clouds to block the sun._

 _Deep inside a long deep cave was a huge cave room with many rock formations. Some of them were holding up the ceiling._

 _Near one of the rocky walls was Mecha who was 14 years old with no scar on his eye at that time. He wore his 'adventure' clothes; black jacket, an army camouflage shirt, black pants and army camouflage boots. (Though he kept his goggles on)_

 _He was on his trip, mostly to find and observe interesting materials. This one was searching for a gem._

 _Using a pickaxe, the bird smashed the rocky walls in hopes of finding one. And then, there it was; a large diamond-shaped gem._

 _"_ _Ooh!" said Mecha as he smugly held up the gem. "Lucky I am!"_

 _He took a selfie of himself with the gem and started to put it on his Twitter account. Before he posted the selfie, he added a little blurb to it:_

 _"_ _Found a large diamond in a deep dangerous cave. Suck on that, Bubblegum!"_

 _Just before Mecha could post it, he heard footsteps. Looking behind, he saw a large group of black jackals. They all look the same except for some distinct features. In front of them was_ _a black jackal with a yellow left eye and a blue right eye, a scar on his face, a white fur collar and a bushy tail with white tips. He wore black sharp gloves and pointed silver hi-shoes. He was holding a bright red sword. It seemed that he was their leader and was a bit older._

 _The second Mecha saw the group, he winced silently because of the sharp swords they had._

 _"_ _Hey you," said the jackal leader. "Give us that gem."_

 _Mecha showed no fear. "Why should I?"_

 _"_ _You don't know who you're messing with! We're the ultimate mercenaries!"_

 _"_ _Ultimate? You don't look like that much!"_

 _The jackal leader started to growl._

 _"_ _ **Give us the gem or else…**_ _"_

 _Mecha made a nasty smirk as he put the gem in his bag. "Pfft! Finders keepers, losers weepers! I found it first."_

 _"_ _ **That's it! You made me no choice!**_ _"_

 _The jackal leader looked at his group and yelled, "JACKAL SQUAD! Seize him!"_

 _"_ _You may try," said Mecha. "But you'll never catch me."_

 _At that moment, two jackals rushed up to the smug bird. They swiped their swords at him but he was fast._

 _Mecha did a barrel roll and eventually was behind them. He did a roundhouse, knocking the two jackals in defeat._

 _The rest of the Jackal Squad charged at him but Mecha was too powerful. Even though he was outnumbered, he was able to beat them up single-handed._

 _He then flew upwards and stood on top of one of the tall rock formations. Looking at the jackals who were on the ground, Mecha started to make faces. At one point, he turned around and mockingly shook his butt in front of them._

 _This was enough to tick them off._

 _The jackal leader did a giant leap and swung his sword and Mecha. Realising that, Mecha quickly ducked and the jackal leader flew above him before landing on another tall rock formation._

 _Mecha shivered a bit. Standing up, he saw two tiny pieces of chopped-off feathers floating in the air._

 _The jackal leader chopped tiny parts of Mecha's hair off._

 _"_ _That was your first and LAST mistake you made in here," Mecha said angrily._

 _The jackal leader leapt about to kill Mecha but the bird was fast. Mecha flew forward to the jackal and did a massive furious kick. The jackal leader was pushed away and lost his grip of his sword._

 _CHING!_

 _The sword cut through one of the rock formations that hold up the ceiling and landed beside the overwhelmed jackal leader._

 _Suddenly, the whole ceiling started to crack. Because of what happened to that rock formation, the ceiling was too heavy to be supported by the remaining rock formations and everything was about to collapsed!_

 _The Jackal Squad were worried of their leader who was trying to get up._

 _"_ _We got to save him!" said one of them._

 _Just before they could, a large rock formation fell in front of them, blocking their way._

 _Seeing that there was no other choice, the Jackal Squad reluctantly ran away and headed to the exit of the cave._

 _Mecha and the jackal leader were still in there. Mecha looked at the jackal as he tried to get up. Deciding to, Mecha rushed up to the injured jackal and pulled him out of the cave._

 _CRUMBLE!_

 _The cave ceiling collapsed as Mecha, carrying the jackal leader, ran out of the cave and into the sunlight. The Jackal Squad was there, looking at the bird surprised._

 _The jackal leader got up to his feet shivering._

 _"_ _Are you ok?" said one of the jackal._

 _The jackal leader started to mutter. "C-can't…b-be…I can't be beaten…like…this…why…am I…so weak…"_

 _The jackal was muttering while shaking in fear and anger._

 _"_ _Lousy losers," said Mecha but couldn't help feeling sorry for the jackal leader. "Well, I'll be nice to you since I saved you."_

 _Mecha took out the gem from his bag, pulled out his pickaxe and chopped a small part. He gave the larger piece to the jackal leader._

 _"_ _Oh…um thanks," said the jackal leader surprised._

 _"_ _You could have that one," said Mecha smiling. "I only need a small bit of that gem. So who are you?"_

 _"_ _I'm Zero."_

 _"_ _I'm Mecha."_

 _So Mecha knew the Jackal Squad. Zero thanked Mecha for helping him. They started to become good friends. Eventually, Mecha felt better as Zero was his ACTUAL first friend. The 'friends' Mecha have were just his fans. This was able to keep his mind off his parents' divorce._

 _Mecha started to learn more about the Jackal Squad. They were a group of thieves who stole stuff to sell it off for a lot of money._

 _"_ _Why are you thieves?" asked Mecha one day._

 _"_ _Just to get more money," said Zero. "I wanted to be powerful and rich."_

 _"_ _Then how come you don't live in cities?"_

 _"_ _Pft! Those urban areas are like HELL. Those people criticize us but mostly, it is all on me. They made fun of my name and appearance."_

 _"_ _You could come to my town."_

 _"_ _Yeah, but all towns are the same."_

 _Zero looked a bit angry, thinking about all the negative feedback he got._

 _"_ _ **One day,**_ _" he growled. "_ _ **I'll be more powerful and crush every person who insult me on this planet.**_ _"_

 _Mecha seemed to realise that Zero was upset. He wanted to kill almost everyone in order to take out his anger._

 _"_ _Hey," said Mecha. "I'll give you a tip of advice. When I get push around, instead of killing them, I stand up for myself and act brave. It works for me because I succeed in everything. Maybe you could try it."_

 _Zero shrugged. Maybe for that bird but not for him._

 _Three days later, Mecha was still hanging around with the Jackal Squad. That day, they had a plan._

 _The Jackal Squad was heading over to some place. They stopped at the edge of a mountain to see a huge factory._

 _"_ _What are you doing?" asked Mecha._

 _"_ _We're going to steal some tech from Eggman's lair," said Zero._

 _Mecha smiled. "Now that's a good stealing! Best to steal from an enemy!"_

 _At this, Mecha threw a bomb at the gate. Soon, the Jackal Squad broke into the factory while Mecha watching them. They destroyed the defensive robots._

 _"_ _Jackal Squad!" yelled Zero. "Raid the base for any technology that would be worth enough to fetch a hefty bounty!"_

 _The jackals heard his command and went forward to the lair._

 _Appearing from nowhere, many robots appeared from the front of the lair. Eggman was in the middle of them. That doctor was in his flying egg-shaped vehicle and was holding something._

 _Taking a look, Mecha saw Eggman holding a red icosahedron gemstone. Mecha gasped. He knew what it was._

 _It was the Phantom Ruby; a powerful gem that have UNLIMITED POWER and it's based on virtual reality control._

 _Eggman must had found that earlier so the robots were replicas, created by the ruby._

 _Noting that the ruby couldn't be in the wrong hands, Mecha took out one of his teleportation bombs. He threw it at the ground in front of him and disappeared._

 _PUFF!_

 _He was teleported in front of Eggman in a yellow smoke._

 _WHAP!_

 _He kicked the doctor in the face. Mecha was about to grab the gem when Eggman quickly revived. The doctor grabbed the turquoise bird with his left hand and his right hand was still carrying the gem. He held Mecha upside down._

 _"_ _Take care of the robots!" said Zero as he made a path through the robots. "I'll handle the fat man!"_

 _Zero leapt and was about to do the final blow._

 _"_ _NO!" yelled Eggman._

 _Instead, Zero's sword strike the gem instead. It didn't break but started to glow. With Zero on Eggman's vehicle, visions became to appear from nowhere._

 _Mecha, Zero and Eggman saw this: they were in the middle of a destroyed city._

 _At first, Mecha wondered how they ended up there. Then it hit him: the Phantom Ruby could make hallucinations sometimes when a person touches it. Therefore, it would create visions in people's thoughts and dreams. Since Zero touched the Phantom Ruby, his dream was TOTAL DESTRUCTION._

 _With Zero distracted, Eggman swung Mecha at the jackal. They both got knocked off the vehicle._

 _The doctor laughed. His vehicle went closer to Zero._

 _"_ _Now you are an interesting guy," Eggman chuckled. "I like you. How about I hire you to lead my forces? Together, we'll take over the world!"_

 _Mecha looked behind. He saw the rest of the Jackal Squad surrounded by robots, completely cornered._

 _"_ _Boss!" said one of them. "Don't be tempted by him! We'll be fine!"_

 _Mecha looked back at Zero. He started to do an evil smile._

 _"_ _Interesting! All this time, I've been going through the motions. I'm actually grown quite tired of the world as it is. Let's do it, Doctor. I'll help you change this world!"_

 _Mecha was shocked. His beak widened. Couldn't believe of what Zero said. For a long time, Zero has been pushed around and he was going to join Eggman to get revenge! The Jackal Squad was shocked as well._

 _"_ _Jackal Squad," commanded Zero. "For now on, we'll help Eggman."_

 _None of the jackals argued. They didn't want to help Eggman but they didn't have a choice._

 _"_ _And you," said Eggman to Mecha. "How about you join me?"_

 _Mecha glared at the doctor for a while before shaking his head._

 _"_ _Why should I?" he snapped. "I don't want to join your side."_

 _"_ _C'mon, Mecha," said Zero. "You'll be able to take over the world."_

 _Mecha shook his head again. Why should he? He didn't need to take over the world. He was already powerful and rich including the fact that he's SMARTER than Eggman. Also, it would be bad and cruel to torture many lives although Mecha enjoyed teasing people from time to time. Working for a BAD guy would be a BAD idea._

 _"_ _I'm not going to," snapped Mecha. "I wouldn't want to join an EGG-SIZED old man."_

 _Eggman's smirk turned into an angry frown. "Fine then. ROBOTS! FINISH HIM!"_

 _"_ _WAIT!" said Zero._

 _But the doctor didn't listened. The robots turned their attention to their target: Mecha._

 _Thinking fast, Mecha ran towards the robots. They started shooting but Mecha leapt and jumped on the robots. There were so many of them and Mecha had all of them on his tail._

 _Luckily, Mecha escaped the lair and hid behind a mountain. He was panting heavily. When he got back his energy, he realised about everything that just happened._

 _The Jackal Squad was on Eggman's side and there was no stopping them._

 _Mecha couldn't believe it. His only friend had become evil and only agreed to help in order to accomplish his violent dreams._

 _Feeling betrayed, Mecha ran off. He went back to his home in a sad mood._

 _A few months had passed and Mecha didn't have the time to observe the gem he found. He had a lot of schoolwork and tournaments to do. Finally, at the start of December, he was able to get free time and started to experiment on the gem. But halfway through, he started to think of his friend Zero. It was pretty clear that he's still on Eggman's side._

 _Feeling so depressed, Mecha decided to go on another trip to take his mind off. He arrived in Africa, had a short walk through the African forest with great sadness. Suddenly, he saw something through the thick grass. Mecha went through and found himself at the walls of one of Eggman's new facilities. In front of him were many accessories on the floor. The bird recognized them since they were the same accessories the Jackal Squad wore._

 _Just then, a moan could be heard. Looking on the right, he saw an injured jackal laying on his back. It was one of the members of the Jackal Squad! He looked like Zero but his hair was styled as a mohawk and not long, both his eyes were sun yellow and wore a green head bandanna._

 _"_ _Obsidian!" said Mecha recognizing the young jackal._

 _Obsidian opened his eyes. "Mecha?"_

 _Rushing over to the jackal, Mecha said, "Are you ok?"_

 _Obsidian coughed. "Not really."_

 _"_ _Where's the rest of the Jackal Squad?"_

 _"_ _They were killed…by Shadow."_

 _Mecha's beak dropped. "What?!"_

 _"_ _Shadow blasted them but I was able to survive," said Obsidian. "Zero wasn't there."_

 _"_ _Where is he?"_

 _"_ _He's coming after Shadow. He's swearing revenge on him."_

 _"_ _C'mon. Get up."_

 _"_ _I can't. I'm going to be out of action for a while. Until I get myself sorted, you got to go to Zero before he's next."_

 _"_ _But Zero wouldn't listen since he agreed to help Eggman."_

 _"_ _Listen, ZERO IS YOUR FRIEND. You got to convince him to turn his back on Eggman. I can't and I need rest now. Zero trust you more than I. He wouldn't listen to me. So just go and stop Zero before he's killed by Shadow."_

 _Mecha stayed silent for a while. There's a high chance that Zero wouldn't listen to him but it was worth a shot._

 _"_ _OK then," said Mecha. "I'll try. Tweet tweet!"_

 _He slapped Obsidian on the back hardly and ran off._

 _"_ _Ow!" groaned Obsidian. "Oi! With extra tender loving care!"_

 _But Mecha didn't hear Obsidian. He was already off._

 _Mecha was able to get into the facility. He had to jump on every rock formation. Finally, he arrived at the main entrance. He found Shadow hiding near the door. Mecha was about to show himself when he saw Zero hopping from rock to rock._

 _The turquoise bird quickly hid behind a rock formation. Zero landed on the same rock formation that Mecha was on._

 _In hiding, Zero was looking at Shadow angrily._

 _"_ _You. You destroyed my squad," he said. "I'll show you why they call me the ultimate mercenary!"_

 _Zero charged at Shadow._

 _"_ _TAKE THIS!"_

 _As Zero was about to attack Shadow, the black hedgehog disappeared. Zero looked confused before he was kicked by Shadow. He was repeatedly kicked and hit before laying on the ground, weak and injured._

 _Shadow glared at the jackal._

 _"_ _Don't you show your pathetic face to me again," said Shadow coldly._

 _Then, the black hedgehog teleported somewhere else. He was gone._

 _Zero started to shiver in fear. But he couldn't take it._

 _"_ _Me…afraid?" he said with a mix of fear and anger. "I'm…shaking? Pathetic? Me…he's calling me weak? No…I am not weak. I'm not. I'm…I'm not…weak._ _ **I'M NOT WEAK!**_ _"_

 _Zero let out an angry roar. He then got up and started to walk off while kicking the ground. Realising that his friend was hurt, Mecha showed himself._

 _"_ _Zero!" he said._

 _The jackal just gave him a dirty glare before walking off._

 _"_ _Hey!" said Mecha catching up. "What's that for?"_

 _"_ _ **You could have help me before I was attacked by him!**_ _" barked Zero._

 _"_ _You COULDN'T HAVE been beaten up if you didn't joined Eggman in the first place! Then you wouldn't let most of your squad be killed!"_

 _"_ _ **You know what? This proves too much! You show me that the world is nothing but a STUPID HELL-LIKE PLACE!**_ _"_

 _"_ _I did not!"_

 _"_ _ **You did! You didn't come up to help me and you didn't care to join Eggman! You don't seem to care about my interests!**_ _"_

 _At that moment, Zero hopped off. He stopped on a rock formation when Mecha flew towards him._

 _"_ _Zero!" pleaded Mecha. "Wait!"_

 _"_ _ **Just go away!**_ _" growled Zero._

 _"_ _But, Zero!"_

 _"_ _ **Leave me alone!**_ _"_

 _"_ _But, my friend…"_

 _"_ _ **DON'T CALL ME YOUR FRIEND!**_ _"_

 _SCRATCH!_

 _With his sharp fingers, Zero scratched Mecha on the FACE. As a result, a bright red scar appeared on Mecha's right eye. THAT was HOW he got the scar in the FIRST PLACE._

 _Blinded by Zero's strike, Mecha stumbled. He eventually lost his balance and fell off the rock formation and into the river below._

 _SPLASH!_

 _When Mecha hit the water, he passed out. When he woke up, his body was safely dragged to land by the tide._

 _Mecha blinked and looked up. He could see from far away Zero hopped off before jumped onto the other side of a high mountain._

 _Mecha was shocked. After all of this, Zero didn't TRUST him anymore. He looked down at the water and saw his reflection; a turquoise bird with a red scar._

 _He shook his head and stood up. Mecha ran off without a word while crying silently._

* * *

 **Clay's POV (back in the present)**

"The scar meant a lot to me," said Mecha as he finished his flashback. "It reminds me of betrayal and loss of trust from my friend. Even worse, I lost Zero as a FRIEND FOREVER."

"So that's how you got that scar," said Bubblegum surprised.

"So you've been stalking me at that time," scoffed Shadow. "No wonder I could smell chicken."

"Wait," said Emerald. "This is not connected to how Mecha knew Infinite."

"It should be," said Sonic. "Zero joined Eggman…"

"Hold on," I said. "Is Zero…Infinite?"

A teardrop could be seen strolling down Mecha's face. "Yes," he said sadly. "I recognized him. He wears the mask to hide his old 'weak' identity and have a powerful gem on his chest. Therefore, he is able to become powerful and calls himself 'Infinite'. I don't want to harm him anymore. I don't want to fight or put an end to him."

"But Mecha," said Sonic. "Infinite is on Eggman's side."

"I don't care," snapped Mecha as tears came rolling down. "He might be evil on the outside but I know that inside, he's a kind person."

"No he's not," said Knuckles. "He isn't. We still have to stop him."

"C'mon. Don't you see?" pleaded Mecha. "All we need to do is to convince HIM to stop."

"We can't," said Richard trembling in anger. "He needs to be killed. I want him to be gone FOREVER."

"Oh, so that's what you are trying to do."

"What do you mean?"

"Getting even with Zero."

"No. It had nothing to do with that!"

"Yes! You're just upset because of what that jackal did. I heard what he did to you all. I know what he took away from you. But just getting revenge solve all of this?!"

"You are brainwashed," said Knuckles.

"I'm NOT brainwashed!" snapped Mecha.

"Can't you see that Infinite's evil?!" said Knuckles firmly.

"DAMARE! That means SHUT UP!" screeched Mecha in agony. "ZERO MEANT A LOT TO ME! BEING WITH HIM MAKES ME FEEL BETTER! THIS TAKES MY MIND OFF MY PARENTS' STUPID DIVORCE! I DON'T WANT TO CONTINUE TO SUFFER ALL OF THIS! ZERO IS MY FRIEND! I WOULDN'T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER!"

"Stop it!" shouted Knuckles grabbing Mecha's arm. "Listen up! Listen to what you're saying! I know that you wanted to make your friend come back but he's not like that anymore! He…is…evil! Look around! Infinite had KILLED MANY INNOCENT LIVES and caused DESTRUCTION! He's never going to change but if he did, he wouldn't do all of this! Only a FOOL would try to convince a MURDERER! I'm sorry but we are going to terminate him! It's the only way to keep the world safe. UNDERSTAND?!"

Silence. Mecha couldn't speak. He was looking at Knuckles with tears in his eyes. He looked hurt that nobody believed him. I was surprised. He was like me. Wanting to save a close friend but couldn't. All alone, suffering to try to move on. I was about to say a word but…

BUZZ!

The large monitor started to flicker. A red laggy screen appeared with a voice call symbol on it. Immediately, Mecha broke free of Knuckles' hand with an angry look.

" _…_ _Hello…is there *kssh* here?_ " said an unknown voice from the screen.

"That voice…" said Bubblegum. "It sound familiar."

"It even sound like Rookie. Only a bit low," said Emerald.

"Who is this?" asked Sonic.

" _This…*ksssh*…_ " said the voice on the screen. " _…Belt…_ "

"BELT!" I yelled in shock.

" _What?_ " said Belt's voice on the screen. " _…C…*kssh*…is that you?_ "

"Yes, it's me!"

" _C…*kssh*…you got to go to safety…*kssh*…now! It's too dangerous!"_

"But we already foiled Eggman's plan. I'm going to save you."

 _No, C…*kssh*….please don't. Eggman's about to do something deadly soon. You…*kssh*…to go already!_ "

"No way! I don't want to leave you!"

" _But C…*kssh*…you would be killed soon and…*kssh*…would be gone._ "

"That goes the same for you and I won't leave without you."

" _But…"_

He was cut off by another voice.

" ** _What are you doing?!_** "

It was Infinite! We heard a loud slap and glasses breaking.

" _Ow!_ " yelled Belt. " ** _You don't_** _…*kssh*…_ _ **my specs!**_ "

"Infinite!" said Sonic.

"YOU MONSTER!" hissed Bubblegum. "LET GO OF BELT NOW OR ELSE!"

" ** _Why should I?_** " said Infinite's voice. " ** _I found him first and he made a good battery._** "

"A battery?" I said confused.

"They must be using Belt as an energy supply!" said Mecha. "His rings provide a lot of power so they must be using him!"

" ** _You're right. But you'll never get him. By the time you found him, he's gone._** "

"Let him go or else!" hissed Bubblegum again.

" ** _We'll settle this at war later, shall we? Also, Dark Wolf, you'll be on my side soon._** _"_

"No way!" I said. "I'll never be a part of you!"

" ** _Goodbye. Turn the energy machine on._** "

" _WAIT!_ " cried Belt's voice.

Suddenly, loud electric noise was heard from the screen. Belt was screaming in pain.

Then, it stopped. The monitor flickered and went back to its normal state. Nobody said a word for a while.

"I…I can't believe it," said Bubblegum. "They've been using Belt the whole time?"

I stared at the blank monitor worried about Belt. Unable to think straight, I ran out of the HQ.

"Rookie!" called Sonic.

I ignored him. I ran to the fighter plane stables and hopped into one of the fighter planes.

The second I hit the pilot's seat, I came back to my senses. I was so worried about Belt that I forgot that I don't know how to fly a plane. I was sitting in the pilot's seat. The controls looked very hard and complicated.

Just then, both Bubblegum and Mecha came running from the hallway.

"Rookie! What are you doing?" Bubblegum said.

"I'm just worried about Belt," I said. "I wanted to rescue him before it's too late."

They read my mind. They looked at each other and nodded.

"Promise," said Bubblegum looking at me.

"Promise," said Mecha as well.

They both came over to the fighter plane I was in.

"Let the professional do it," said Mecha.

I let him took the pilot's seat and sat at the next row.

"Don't worry, Belt," I thought as the plane took off. "I'm coming."

What we didn't know was the tremendous danger we were going to be in soon.

* * *

 **AN: What is the danger? We're going to have to find out in the next chapter. It will be the final battle of the six-month war! See you in a few days time!**

 *** Clay has a point. This is a reference to the game Sonic Unleashed. Only in this story, Sonic Forces takes 2 years after Sonic Unleashed.**

 **** Only in my stories, all original Sonic characters are 2 years older than their original age. It wouldn't be a good idea for them to be the same age in all games! (etc. Sonic's age is 17 in this story)**

 **P.S. Sorry if this is too long. It got to be the second-longest chapter of this story!**


	9. The Final War

**AN: Hello my rock 'n' rollers!**

 **Chapter 9 is here! The final war begin and the Dark Wolf will rise. But one life will be gone in this chapter...**

 **(Note: This is the longest chapter of this story. I'm sorry...)**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 - The Final War**

 **Eggman Empire Fortress, 31/07 (at 1 pm)**

POW!

I shot a robot down. We were able to get to the entrance the Eggman Empire Fortress.

"Can you locate where Belt is?" I said.

Mecha looked on his tracking device. It flickered a bit and Mecha gave up. "The connection here is also crud. But I managed to receive the map. The power source is located in the middle of this fortress."

"Good," said Bubblegum. "Let's go and save our friend."

We went in. It was a huge place. There were many hallways we had to go through. It was like the longest maze I ever took.

Robots appeared from nowhere and we had to destroy them to make a path.

It took a long time to get to the power source but finally, we arrived at the entrance.

"This is it!" I said. "We're finally here!"

"Belt must be inside there," said Bubblegum.

"Stand back," said Mecha.

He held up his Wispon and the cone started to spin faster. He pressed it against the locked door and created a huge hole.

CLANK!

The door fell down. What remained of it was a few pieces of metal.

"Belt!" I said as I entered. "I'm here!"

I expected to hear a reply but nothing.

"Belt?"

Still nothing.

I looked around. It was a huge metal grey room. There were machines near the wall and they were glowing red. In the middle was a huge glass cylinder with wires hanging inside. The door was left opened. In the front was Belt's glasses, or what was left of that. A piece of black trim and broken lenses.

A big black wave went over me. BELT ISN'T HERE ANYOMRE.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Infinite APPEARED.

" **Told you so,** " he said. " **He isn't here anymore.** "

At this moment, Bubblegum yelled a loud battle cry before advancing towards Infinite. But when she jumped, she was kicked to the right.

"Bubblegum!" I said.

I aimed my Wispon at Infinite but he dashed in front of me and I was hit. I fell beside Bubblegum.

"NO!" cried Mecha.

Infinite looked at Mecha who was trembling and holding on to his Wispon.

" **The mighty eagle is here and yet he is reek of fear,** " mocked Infinite who came closer to Mecha.

"FIRE ALREADY, MECHA!" yelled Bubblegum.

Mecha knew what to do. But it seemed like he couldn't find the strength to do it. He doesn't wanted to harm Infinite. As that black jackal was about to attack him, the poor bird was trembling, looking away in fear and hanging onto his Wispon.

Infinite snickered before saying, " **Give in to your fear and doubt. Flee, screaming and I'll let you live, turkey. I'll also not kill your friends yet.** "

"JUST DO IT!" shouted Bubblegum. "WE'LL BE FINE!"

But that was the last straw. Mecha started to have tears rolling down his cheek. Finally, he shook his head. He ran out of the room, screaming in agony. As he ran off, one of his smoke bombs fell onto the ground and laid there, inactive. Unlike the rest, it's black in colour.

The second Mecha left the room, Infinite turned to us. He stared at me before kicking me in the face.

Everything went black…

* * *

 **Third Person's POV, Outside Eggman Empire Fortress, 31/07 (at 4 am)**

Finally, it was time.

The final war to earn freedom. They had to fight to stop the Eggman Empire Fortress from doing anymore destruction.

The entire Resistance army arrived at the boundaries of the fortress.

Right in front of them was Infinite and a whole army of replicas created by him. There seemed to be more than a thousand of them.

Sonic looked at Knuckles. They both nodded and advanced.

The entire Resistance army ran forward thus starting the war, using everything they got to stop the Eggman Empire.

The army of replicas advanced towards the Resistance and attacked.

What the Resistance didn't know was what Eggman's real plan to end the world.

* * *

 **Clay's POV, Eggman Empire Fortress Prison**

CLANG!

CLANG!

"STUPID BARS!"

The next thing I knew was lying down on a metal-hard bed. The first thing I saw was the ceiling. It was high above me. It was metal-grey.

I stood up and saw Bubblegum, desperately, trying to knock down the bars in front of her with her Wispon. But they were too hard to break.

I looked around the room. It was nothing much. Just a small room with two bunks and a sink. We were in a prison.

Soon, I started to think about Belt. He wasn't at the energy source. He was gone and the only thing left from him was his glasses.

Another big black wave flowed over me. I started to feel bad.

Sadness.

Anger.

Doubt.

Loneliness.

Bubblegum stopped kicking and turned to see me. She seemed worried because of the look on my face.

"Rookie?" she said. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," I said gloomily. "We got stuck in a prison when trying to rescue my brother. Thanks for asking."

Silence.

"But Rookie…!" said Bubblegum noting my sarcasm.

I growled. " **Just…shut…up…** "

My voice lowered. My eyes started to fill with tears. "I'm sorry, Bubblegum. It was my fault. All I wanted was to find my brother…b…but I couldn't. All the hope. All the courage. All the bravery. All the pain. All for NOTHING. All finished. I had used all of these strengths up and by the time I found where Belt is, he's GONE…f…forever."

I collapsed on my knees. I looked down.

"No," said Bubblegum. "No way!"

"You're right," I said. "There's NO way. We both are stuck in here."

"But there will be another way, right?"

"Don't you get it? It's over. I've tried…but I keep failing…Belt's gone…my only brother…I'm all by myself…a lone wolf…"

I looked down and started to cry. I felt the darkness rising from my arm to my shoulder. It stayed right there.

The rest was all silence…

* * *

 **Third Person's POV, Outside Eggman Empire Fortress**

The war carried on.

More replicas appeared and it was almost too much for the Resistance to take. But the Resistance weren't dead yet and only received a few minor injuries. After destroying one replica, Sonic saw Emerald and Sebastian hiding behind a large boulder. He rushed over to them.

"What are you doing?" Sonic asked.

"We're trying to call our friends," said Emerald.

"But Tails is already out looking for them."

"Yes, but it's taking too long. We're calling them now."

Emerald and Sebastian pressed their ear pieces.

"Rookie," said Sebastian. "Can you hear us?"

Nothing.

"Rookie?"

A message was only heard.

" _Unable to connect to the person. Please try again._ "

"Oh no," said Sebastian.

They pressed their ear pieces again.

"Bubblegum?" said Emerald. "Are you there?"

The same message was played again.

Sebastain started to panic. He pressed his ear piece one more time.

"Mecha?" he said. "Where are…?"

He was cut off by a loud screech. It was filled with mixed negative emotions. In the background, there were rocks crumbling.

Off.

"What's going on?" asked Sonic.

"They…Rookie and Bubblegum are nowhere to be seen and…I've never heard Mecha that upset before…" said Sebastian worried about them.

Just before Sebastian could say another word, the boulder was picked up. With the boulder gone, they were facing a large strong replica.

"Oh no," said Emerald.

Just before they could do anything else, an orange blur flew over them and aimed itself at the replica.

ZOOM!

The orange blur hit the replica causing the red muscular fake to fall down. It flickered before disappearing. On its spot was a familiar orange hedgehog.

"MAYOR WILLS!" cried both Sebastian and Emerald.

"Thank God for finding you two," said Mayor Wills. "I have been tracking your guys down with the electronical devices."

The two civilians were happy to see their mayor. They recognized him except the fact that his quills weren't tied up by his usual rubber band and looked a bit like how Sonic's quills are. Also, he was wearing his fighting outfit: a black and orange robe and black pants with knives strapped to them.

"Who are you?" asked Sonic.

"Your backup army," said Mayor Wills before gave a loud whistle.

The whistle echoed through the land. Appearing from the mountains behind the Resistance were many more people. It was all the Forest Tournament Teams! Including the Blazers and the Death Shockers. They were all armed with bow and arrows.

" **Impossible!** " growled Infinite. " **I thought all of you are perished.** "

Mayor Wills turned around and looked at the floating black jackal.

"Infinite," the mayor said angrily. "This is where you'll go down for tearing apart our population. Surrender now or you'll die where you stand!"

Infinite scoffed. " **Why would I stop? This is where your time will stop.** "

"Might be, but this is where we will fight. This is for the future! ATTACK!"

Hearing that command, the Forest Tournament Teams came down from the mountains and joined the fight. The Resistance continued their battle, with the extra help from the archers, against the army of replicas.

Emerald and Sebastian were about to join in when Mayor Wills called them.

"WAIT!" he said. "Where's Bubblegum?"

"She's gone missing," said Emerald shaking her head.

"WHAT?!"

Sebastian sighed. "Also, Mecha…he's been under a lot of pressure…"

"I think I can hear him," said the Mayor. "I will send one of my men to see what's going on."

"I wish that they would come here RIGHT NOW."

* * *

 **Eggman Empire Fortress Prison**

Bubblegum was looking at Rookie for a long time.

The turquoise wolf, all sad and full of doubts. He was looking down, still on his knees and tears slowly rolling down his closed eyes. His right arm was completely black and it would be almost time before Rookie completely turned into the dark side.

That was the worst part, especially seeing Rookie being heavily demoralised.

"What should I do?" thought Bubblegum.

Then, she remembered what Emerald said to her two days ago.

 _"_ _Well if that's the case, I won't tell Rookie. But YOU have to tell him."_

Maybe Emerald's right. Maybe it's time to show her feelings. How she suffered like Rookie did. No matter what, she has to help him to regain hope.

Bubblegum took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

It was quiet for a while. I was looking down gloomily with my eyes close…until I heard singing?

I opened my eyes and saw Bubblegum. She stayed quiet for a while before she continued to sing softly. Her voice was like an angel. She was singing a song that I knew before. It was about never giving up and showing how far this journey has gone.

But I wasn't in the mood to listen, even when stuck in a prison. I closed my watery eyes and looked away. Bubblegum stayed quietly for a while. She then pressed a few buttons on her phone and soft piano ballad music was played.

Bubblegum continued to sing her song with the instrumental music accompanying her. She came up to me and slowly stroked my hair. She then touched my scars softly.

I started to get annoyed. After she sang the chorus part, I stood up and turned my back.

"Bubblegum, please stop," I said grimly. "I don't want to hear lullaby so please be quiet."

I walked close to the wall and stood on my knees, looking down.

Bubblegum stopped singing for a while. But then, she took a deep breath and said, "I was like you…"

I opened my eyes. I looked behind.

"I lost someone important in my life too," said Bubblegum.

"Y…you did?" I said.

Bubblegum nodded. "I had. My parents passed away a long time ago…My father died in…a terrible situation. That's why I and Mecha had a grudge with each other..."

Bubblegum hesitated. I could see a tiny tear dripping from her eye. She continued talking. "Four years ago…I spotted Mecha walking over an unstable bridge beneath a deep ravine…I told him to get off but he wouldn't listen. Within seconds, the bridge collapsed. Luckily my father saw us and saved us. He wasn't able to save himself. I and Mecha tried to save him using a rope but…it broke. Father…fell…into…the ravine…he's gone."

Bubblegum started to shed tears. I was surprised.

"I blamed Mecha for this and we got upset with each other…then a year later…my mother died of fever and…I was an orphan…all by myself…I lived with Emerald's family but I still feel lonely…I blamed myself for all this mess. I isolate myself from other people, hide away at some point and once tried to drown myself…it hurts a lot."

Bubblegum then slowly walked over to me with tears in her eyes.

"I know it's hard for you to lose someone you love. For me, it's forever. But it doesn't have to be for you. My father wanted to make the world a better place. So I'm going to make yours better. I don't think the Eggman Empire is done with Belt yet. I think they're still using him. Don't worry. We'll find a way out of here. I promise that we'll be alright and find your brother."

Bubblegum continued to sing softly. She helped me get up to my feet. She then finished up her song. Full with tears, I hugged her. I didn't know that Bubblegum was like me before and I was overwhelmed by her caring nature.

As her piano music finished, I said, "T-thank you…for understanding."

"Your welcome," said Bubblegum with tears as well.

It was quiet for a while. The only sound that was heard was our sobbing. Then, an electric noise was heard. The lights began to flicker.

Suddenly, the door of our prison opened!

"What's going on?" said Bubblegum.

I looked up, wiping my eyes. Running near the prison was Tails. He was panting like he was running the whole way here.

"There you are!" he said happily. "I was looking for you guys!"

"Well thanks a lot," I said. "What's going on with the Resistance?"

"They're already out battling with the Eggman Empire. Eventually, another army helped them, led by a hedgehog named Mayor Wills."

"Mayor Wills?!" said Bubblegum surprised. "He must be looking for us. Plus, where's Mecha?"

Tails shrugged sadly. "I don't know. I couldn't find him. The only thing I found from him was this."

Holding it in his hand, he showed us a yellow smoke bomb.

"Mecha's smoke bomb?" I said.

"Yes it is," said Tails.

"I think he dropped some of those when he fled."

"Can that take us out of this place?" asked Bubblegum.

"I guess we could give it a try," said Tails.

He threw the bomb on the ground and yellow smoke exploded. Everything went yellow…

* * *

 **Third Person's POV, Outside Eggman Empire Fortress**

"When will this stop?" complained Sebastian as he striked a replica.

"Less talking, more fighting," said Tom as he stabbed a replica with an arrow.

"Hey that rhymes!" said Emerald loudly.

The Resistance had been fighting Infinite's army of replica for a long time. They were too many of them. Finally, the replicas mysteriously disappeared.

"Did we win?" said Knuckles.

Not yet. Infinite started to make a glowing ball of fire from his hand before throwing it to the sky. Up above, it became a large ball of fire blocking most of the sky.

"What is going on?" wondered Sonic.

"Is that the sun?!" exclaimed Richard.

"Why is it getting bigger?" said Amy.

Eggman flew above them in his Eggmobile.

He laughed evilly. "This is my plan. This virtual sun will crash down on Earth and burn every living soul up ALIVE!"

"What?!" sputtered Sonic. "I thought your plan was to use the Phantom Ruby!"

"Of course, yes. But the Death Egg is NOT the energy source of the Phantom Ruby. Its MAIN SOURCE is inside the Eggman Empire Fortress! Also, the gem that Infinite have is a PROTOTYPE of the Phantom Ruby."

"But with the sun in the sky, won't that burn us all up including you?" said Emerald.

" **Not for us,** " said Infinite. " **That sun doesn't harm either me or Eggman. It will only destroy everything we want. There's no place to run or hide. This is your fate.** "

Eggman laughed maniacally. "Say farewell, Resistance!"

He flew away.

This was it. The Resistance had no place for safety. They lost and the world would be burnt up soon.

"No!" said Sonic. "There's got to be another way!"

"Another way? Pft! Yeah, there will always be another way," said Tom ironically. "BUT THERE ISN'T!"

"There have to be!"

"No! There's nothing to stop that sun. NOTHING. We have nowhere else to run. There's no escaping….we're all doomed….j…just accept it."

As the crying Tom said that, he dropped his weapon hopelessly. Sonic was about to say another word but the other soldiers from Resistance Squad and the Forest Tournament Teams had the same emotions. With their hope shattered, they dropped their weapons.

"No!" said Sonic. "There's got to be something."

"There isn't," said Richard with tears. "Just accept it."

"No way!"

"Yes…there is no way…"

"But…"

"Sonic. Can't you see? We lost. There's nothing we could do. For once, just face reality. We're worthless. We came this far and we lost in the end."

"NO! The world…I mean EVERYONE is depending on us!"

Sonic heard a sadistic laugh.

"Ha ha ha," said Minty sarcastically. "If you're so brave, then what would you do? Call a genie? Pray for luck? Use your super form? What are you going to do? What can you do to save us? How can you prove us that we could that we could still win? And how are you going to win after being defeated and letting everyone die?"

The tone of her voice was bitter. Her words were bitter. Bitter than the last 6 months of torture. Bitter than death. Bitter than losing loved ones. And yet here they are about to be engulfed by the sun. Sonic was speechless.

Sebastian dropped his weapons. Both Tom and Richard are right. This was it. Their fate was going to happen. Earth is doomed. Every race is going to be wiped out. The future is going to be ruled by Eggman and his cronies. He heard someone sniffing. Looking behind, he saw Emerald. But for the first time, she was crying.

"Emerald?" said Sebastian slowly. "Are you all right?"

Emerald shook her head. She didn't look that upset before. "All of this hope is for nothing," she admitted with tears before smiling weakly. "I thought that we could bring peace back to our home, but I'll know better if there's next time…"

Sebastian was shocked. Emerald was a bright positive person who believed that there would be a bright side but with no other way to shut down the sun, she was starting to face reality.

She continued to cry quietly. Sebastian put his hand on her shoulder.

All the hope.

All the courage.

All the pain.

All the suffering.

All the perseverance.

All for NOTHING.

* * *

 **Clay's POV, Far Away from Eggman Empire Fortress**

The next thing I knew was that we were out in the middle of nowhere. We were in a black rocky place with mountains. But right in the background, there was the Eggman Empire Fortess. The building could be seen far away.

"Where are we?" said Tails.

"We seem to be outside," I said.

"Yeah, but where is the Resistance?"

Out of nowhere, a big ball of fire appeared in the sky.

"What the heck is that?" I said.

"Is that THE SUN?!" shrieked Bubblegum.

"No, can't be! Couldn't be real!"

But it was real. The sun was coming closer to the horizon. It was going to crash onto this world.

"No!" I said. "There got to be another way."

"How can we stop that sun?" said Bubblegum.

Suddenly, I felt a buzzing noise. It wasn't the darkness. It was more like a phone ringing in my pocket. It was the gem I kept. I took it out and looked at it. It was glowing red.

"It's reacting," said Tails. "This must be a prototype of the Phantom Ruby."

"Prototype of the Phantom Ruby?" I said.

"Let me see."

I handed the prototype to Tails. It stopped glowing and became grey. He then gave it back to me and when I hold it, it glowed.

"Eggman said the Phantom Ruby prototypes only react to the person who activated it," explained Tails. "That person must be you, Rookie!"

"It is?" I said.

"Yes! Your courage and heroism are probably what triggered it."

"So is that prototype connected to Rookie's DNA?" wondered Bubblegum.

"Could be," said Tails. "You could use it to make that virtual sun disappear."

"Really?" I said.

"Definitively! Maybe the prototype could clear that sun out PERMANENTLY."

"Ok, so I just have to let the ruby know what to do."

"Wait, there is one problem though. You couldn't stop that sun from HERE. You have to get up THERE to stop it."

"Near…close to the sun?"

"Yes…"

Bubblegum started to look worried. I realised what I was in for. I looked up at the sun, kilometres away from the planet, then turned to the prototype I was holding. But there wasn't any other choice. I started to walk.

"Wait!" said Bubblegum. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to stop that flaming ball," I said.

"But Rookie. You KNOW what would happen if you go up THERE."

"I know."

"Please don't! You'll be burnt there!"

"But there is no other choice. I HAVE to go up there."

"But…but…"

"It's ok…"

I looked at Bubblegum. She looked at me worryingly.

"Bubblegum," I said slowly. "I know that you are worried about me. I can smell your fear. You're afraid of what I'm about to do. I'm also afraid. I'm afraid that if I don't make it, I wouldn't be able see the world, the Resistance, Sonic or…even you and the rest of the Black Squad! But sometimes, sacrifices have to be made. I have the prototype and I'm responsible for saving our home. The world's safety is more important than mine NOW. I can't just watch, let the world die and let Eggman win. But there's a chance that I might make it."

Bubblegum sputtered, "B-but…you wouldn't be able to get out of there alive! And that gem might not work. You wouldn't be able to survive!"

"Maybe I couldn't…but I have hope. YOU gave me hope. You've shown me that I'm not a lone wolf after all. I wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for you…I love you as a friend for that."

Bubblegum smiled surprised. "I love you too."

Suddenly, a buzzing noise came from our ear pieces.

" _ROOKIE?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"_

It was Sebastian.

"Don't worry, guys," said Tails using his ear piece. "I got Rookie and Bubblegum with me."

" _Good,_ " said Knuckles. " _Now quickly get them to safety! The sun is coming towards the horizon!_ "

"Don't worry!" I called. "I'm going to stop that sun!"

I started walking.

"WAIT!" pleaded Bubblegum. "I'll take your place!"

"And let you be killed instead?" I said. "No. I would not do that. I'm the only one who could activate the prototype."

"But please don't…"

"I'm sorry but I have to go."

"Please!"

"There's no time."

I was about to run before Bubblegum yelled out, "ROOKIE!"

I stopped. I looked behind. Bubblegum was crying. Tears rapidly rolling down her cheek.

I knew it would be the last time I would see her so I decided to do something. I took off my cross necklace and put it on Bubblegum. The second I did that, Bubblegum hugged me in tears. I shed a few tears as well. Finally she let go.

"O-ok," she said with difficulty. "I-I believe in you."

I smiled weakly. "See you on the other side, Beth."

I ran off. I was going fast. After running across the long straight landscape, I leapt over a mountain, to land behind the Resistance. I kept my eyes on where I was going; the Imperial Tower of the Fortress. I dashed through the Resistance. I could hear them talking.

"Who's that kid?"

"It's Rookie!"

"What is he doing?"

Away from the Resistance, I was heading close to the walls of the fortress. I leapt and used my grappling gun to fly onto a part of the tower. I didn't stop and continued to run. I was destroying robots as I went and jumping over hazards.

" _What are you doing, Rookie?_ " called Minty.

"I got a prototype gem that could cancel out that sun," I called. "I'm going up there."

" _No!_ " called Knuckles. " _You'll be burnt to crisp before then! Give it up! Fall back!_ "

" _Go the other way! You'll be killed soon!_ " called Mic.

" _Don't be a hero! The hot heat could melt you in seconds!_ " yelled Richard.

Almost the entire Resistance were calling me to stop but I ignored them. I kept on running towards the Imperial Tower. Next, I jumped from wall to wall, coming close to the sun.

I continued to go higher. Every muscle in my body was aching but I ignored it. Finally, I was running up the ramp that lead to the top of that tower.

"Here it goes," I thought.

I aimed my grappling gun at the top antenna on the tower and I flew up. I started to fly towards the sun. Going too fast and too high. The temperature started to heat up. I felt warmer and then hotter. I was about to get INTO the sun.

I looked down. The whole Resistance was watching me. I looked back to the sun.

"This is it," I thought. "Either I live or die saving everyone. At least I could be happy to know that I made friends and had a good journey."

I started to shed tears.

"Wherever you are, Belt," I whispered, cracking with sadness. "I'll always be your brother. This one is for you…"

I quickly formed a shield around me and raised the prototype…

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

The Resistance watched as Rookie went INTO the sun. Everyone was shocked.

Did Rookie die in there?

"R-Rookie?" sputtered Sebastian.

Suddenly, the sun flickered. It flashed white before disappearing. The grey sky came back.

The virtual sun is GONE.

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

At first everything was white, but then, the sun disappeared. The normal sky came back.

I was shocked.

The sun was GONE and I'm still ALIVE.

I started falling. Quickly, I aimed my grappling gun at a nearby tower. I was able to land there but fell on the platform.

CRUNCH!

The second I fell, my right hand banged on the platform with shattered bits of what's left of the prototype.

Ignoring the prototype, I stood up on my feet. I looked up from the tower and saw the Resistance down there cheering at me. I started to smile and waved at them.

I saved the world. The world would continue to live in peace.

I heard a spinning noise. Looking on my right was Tails flying towards me while carrying Bubblegum. Once they landed, Bubblegum ran up to me and hugged.

"Rookie!" she said in tears of joy. "You did it!"

I savoured the happy moment. Finally, we let go.

"Thank you, Rookie!" said Tails happily. "You've saved all of us! There's still a lot to do but your name should be in the hall of heroes!"

I smiled. "Don't thank me. Thank for the prototype I have. And speaking of that gem, it's shattered."

I looked at the crushed gem on the platform. It glowed red before turning grey.

"I wish I held onto that thing longer," I said disappointedly.

"I don't think we need that anymore," said Bubblegum. "For now, we have to use our techniques to stop Eggman Empire."

She took off the neckalace I gave her and gave it back it me.

"This belongs to you," she said. "God is with us."

* * *

I and Bubblegum were running along a platform to get back to the Resistance when we heard a noise.

ZAP!

"What was that?" I said.

We looked over the platform. In the middle of the fortress were Sonic and Infinite. They were having a battle and at that moment, Infinite was WINNING. Sonic was getting kicked and electrocuted, overwhelmed by Infinite's attacks.

"Oh no!" I said.

I saw Infinite floating up and making a glowing flaming ball, about to finish Sonic. My instinct kicked in and I hopped off the platform.

The flaming ball started to fly towards Sonic but I quickly got in front of him and made a yellow shield.

BOOM!

The flaming ball exploded when it hit the shield. Sonic was surprised.

"Rookie!" he said happily.

"Good to see you," I smiled as my shield disappeared.

" **YOU!** " growled Infinite. " **You wimpy wolf!** "

"Rookie is not a wimp," said Sonic. "He has got this far, and two of us here are going to win!"

"Make it three," said a voice.

Bubblegum landed beside us.

"Happy for me to join in?" she said.

"Now we outnumbered him," said Sonic. "Let's finish Infinite once and for all!"

We charged towards him and the battle began. Despite outnumbering Infinite, he was too powerful. He was using so many red pixel cubes.

At one point, Bubblegum was able to do a direct hit.

POW!

Her Wispon shot out a spike ball and hit the gem on his chest.

BANG!

The gem cracked a bit. Infinite stumbled but quickly revived. He let out a big wave of energy.

"The gem!" said Bubblegum. "That must be his weak point!"

"What?" I said.

"If we destroy that prototype on his chest, we might be able to defeat him!"

Hearing this, Sonic ran towards the black jackal and attempted to hit the gem. But Infinite acted fast.

KICK!

Just before Sonic could even launched himself, Infinite kicked him to the side. The blue hedgehog was knocked onto the floor. Infinite was about to attack him.

"No!" I cried.

I and Bubblegum started running towards them. But it was almost too late. Infinite was about to shoot Sonic when…

ZOOM!

A yellow blur zoomed past Infinite and grabbed Sonic just in time. The blur stopped. It was a familiar-looking stranger wearing a yellow and black jacket. The stranger took off the hood revealing to be…MECHA?!

"Mecha?!" exclaimed Bubblegum.

I was shocked. Mecha left us, ran off because he couldn't find the strength to face Infinite but now, he's back. He directly looked at Infinite. But he didn't look worried. He was angry.

"Zero," he said. "Leave my friends alone,"

Infinite sighed. " **Why should I?** "

"LISTEN. I know that you wanted to take over the world just because you're upset. But this is only between me and you, so leave my friends alone."

" **Pft! You think I did all of this because of you? Mostly yes. After those several months, I learnt that you're a BAD person. You don't seem to care about saving me back in Africa! You don't seem to care about my interests and feelings! This proves that the world is crud. A STUPID world full of hate, pain, lies, cruelty and death! But no, I'm not doing all of this to get revenge or teach a lesson to everyone. I'm doing this so I can make the world in my own image. A world where NO ONE can insult me. But I can't help the fact that you're still around here. I just want to scratch your face again. This war is to show you how it feels like to be weak.** "

"But Zero…please…I'm sorry…"

Mecha hesitated but quickly revived. "Stop right now…or you'll get it."

" **Don't call me that PATHETIC name anymore. And I WON'T take your apology.** "

At this moment, Infinite shot a laser beam at Sonic and Mecha. They quickly jumped out of the way but Infinite was aiming for Mecha. The bird was able to get out of the way, doing back flips to avoid the laser beam.

"That's it," Mecha said. "I'm sorry…but you give me no choice."

He let out a loud eagle cry, only this time to be bloodcurdling.

Using his Yellow Wispon, he dashed towards Infinite. He leapt and aimed for the gem. But Infinite quickly blocked his attack and kicked Mecha. This caused Mecha to hit into Sonic and both fell down.

"NO!" cried Bubblegum.

I and Bubblegum rushed up to Infinite. Bubblegum leapt first but received a painfully kick. She was thrown to the wall, with a head injury first.

I stopped in my tracks and looked at Bubblegum as she struggled to get up. Being distracted, I didn't know that Infinite was targeting me. Using his force power, he picked me up. I was floating up, trying to break free but at the same time, I felt a powerful force choking me. It was painful.

I was floating in front of Infinite.

" **Dark Wolf,** " the black jackal said. " **You're going to join me or die here?** "

I struggled to breath. I felt hurt. I started to feel the darkness in me again.

"I…will…never…be a part of you…" I choked out.

" **Fine then,** " growled Infinite. " **Then feel pain. Feel what it's like in the real world!** "

I was thrown away. I hit the ground very hard. As I tried to get up, I saw my friends being in danger. Infinite placed his foot on Mecha's chest, who wasn't trembling but started to have tears in his eyes.

"You monster…" said Sonic trying to get up.

Out of nowhere, Infinite made red pixel cubes and they flew towards the blue hedgehog.

ZAP!

The cubes hit Sonic. He yelled in pain and struggled to get up.

For Bubblegum, when she got up, she found herself surrounded by cannons that Infinite made. There was no way out for her and she was about to be shot. She pinned herself to the wall and shed tears.

" **You've been an ungrateful person,** " growled Infinite at Mecha. " **You'll pay the price. I'll turn you into roast chicken.** "

Mecha tried to take Infinite's foot off but he wasn't strong enough. The black jackal made a flaming ball, aiming at the victim under his foot. With tears flowing down, Mecha closed his eyes waiting for death.

"No…" I said my voice trailing off.

I started to feel angry. Tears came down from my eyes. I felt myself shaking, my teeth gritting and a growl in my chest. This caused me to feel the darkness again.

Sadness.

Anger.

Pain.

Stress.

Eventually, the darkness started to continue to spread across my body. It was painful. Growling in pain, I hold onto my head.

" **Not…now…** " I growled. " **…control…myself…** "

I felt the darkness spreading throughout my body. My fur turned from turquoise to black. The blackness started to cover up my head. I felt it rose from my chin to my ears. I could feel darkness covering all over me with many negative thoughts like how it was in my nightmare.

And then, I felt a burst of energy.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

BOOM!

A burst wave of yellow energy came out from Rookie as the last bit of darkness covered him. The forces knocked Infinite over thus saving Mecha from being killed. The same goes for Sonic and Bubblegum. When Infinite was knocked over, the red pixel cubes and the cannons disappeared.

Sonic, Bubblegum and Mecha tried to figure out where the blast came from. They looked up and saw Rookie. Or what they saw.

Rookie is fully transformed. His fur was completely black. His headphones, cross necklace, scars and the purple parts of his shoes were yellow. A glowing yellow aura surrounded him.

He opened his eyes angrily. No longer were the eyes golden but a bright yellow colour.

The three heroes couldn't believe it. Rookie was all dark. The Ultimate Dark Wolf. Since the darkness had took over his mind, he's going to turn on them.

Infinite quickly revived from the blast and saw Rookie.

" **I see that you're complete and ready,** " he said.

The black jackal teleported in front of the black wolf who was just staring angrily.

" **You want to show them who you are?** " said Infinite. " **Finish them off.** "

Without a reply, Rookie held up a yellow energy ball with rings of darkness. He was about to throw it at them!

Bubblegum and Mecha felt betrayed but there was no other way to bring Rookie back to his actual self. It was too late, Rookie couldn't control his feelings.

But for some strange reason, Rookie didn't throw the energy ball at all. He dropped it on the ground and the ball disappeared. Then, his mouth opened.

" **No…I won't** ," he growled.

Sonic and Bubblegum were surprised. But Mecha was shocked. He realised something. Rookie was still himself and he could control his own mind even though the darkness continued to live in him!

"So you're not a weak wolf after all," said Mecha smiling.

"Good old Rookie," said Bubblegum, smiling as well.

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

" **What?!** " exclaimed Infinite.

" **I'm not going to do it,** " I growled though I didn't expect my voice to be like that.

" **No way…but…** " sputtered Infinite. " **How come?** "

He shook his head. " **I'll say this one last time. Join me or die here?!** "

" **Why should I?** " I said. " **I wouldn't want to be evil like you.** "

" **But don't you get tired of the world you live in? You would be hated, insulted and live a hard life! Don't you ever experience how it's like to be weak?!** "

" **I guess I do…this whole war, I have had a lot of struggles. I lost my brother, tried to fit in, tried to share my feelings, kept failing and got into big fights. I always made myself feel down and not wanted to live anymore. I thought I was all alone. Just a lone wolf. It's hurt a lot…** "

As I said that, flashes of the bad times I went through appeared in my mind.

" **But…I wasn't alone,** " I said clenching my fists. " **As time went on, I was able to explain my feelings. The Resistance took sympathy on me. I was able to make friends for the first time. They showed me how to care and understood me. They encouraged me, supported me, comforted me and gave me hope. Without them, I wouldn't be able to survive all these. We worked as a team and we came this far, close to bringing peace to the world.** "

I started to feel powerful and hopeful. I started to float in the sky without fault.

" **I might be a wimp. A dark demon. A terrible nightmare. But that doesn't mean that I will be bad. I'm a Resistance soldier. I'm the Dark Wolf, the angel of God! And I'll fight to keep the world safe as long as there is still breathe in my body!** "

Infinite shook his head. " **Fine then. You made your decision. Take this!** "

He flew in the air and charged towards me, about to attack. But I was quick. Somehow, I knew all of my powers. I teleported away from him and went to Sonic.

"Rookie!" he said in joy. "You're still yourself!"

" **It takes more to get the best of me,** " I bragged smiling.

"Now let's finish Infinite!"

The two of us ran straight towards Infinite. Using my newly-found dark powers, we were able to attack him easily. I was flying, teleporting, using dark energy laser beams and transforming into a shadow. I never felt so powerful before. It was good because my ultimate powers were useful.

Finally, Infinite had enough.

" **That's it!** " he growled.

He formed a lot of red pixel cubes and they flew towards me and Sonic. I quickly made a shield around us but the cubes continued to try to get in. For some reason, they are pushed into the shield.

" **Oh no,** " I said.

Behind Infinite, a few kilometres away, was Mecha. He lifted up his Wispon and pointed at Infinite. The black jackal didn't noticed. Sonic realised what Mecha was about to do.

"Try to hold longer, Rookie," Sonic said.

" **I'm trying,** " I said.

I looked as Mecha while trying to hold onto the shield the best I could. He pressed the trigger. The cone of his Wispon started to spin. He closed his eyes and dashed forward.

ZOOM!

Mecha was dashing towards Infinite. He was going faster than how he was before.

" **Any last words?** " growled Infinite, the red cubes about to COMPLETELY break my shield.

"Yes," said Sonic, smirking. "Look behind."

Confused, Infinite turned around. But that was a BIG MISTAKE. Mecha's Wispon hit the gem on Infinite's chest. The black jackal screamed in pain. Mecha still held onto his Wispon as it drilled on the gem which started to crack. Suddenly, a big burst of energy came out of the gem.

BOOM!

The forces made Mecha flew upwards before landing on the ground. Infinite started to struggle. His gem on his chest continued to crack. He was struggling to get up.

" **Impossible!** " he growled. " **I can't be defeated!**

"Wrong, loser!" yelled Sonic. "The things that can't be defeated are heart, soul and the bonds of friendship. Three things you and your counterfeit cronies lack!"

Infinite started to flicker. He looked like he was going to fade away.

" **No wait!** " he pleaded. " **I can still fight!** "

He stumbled again. He looked behind to see Mecha getting up on his feet.

" **You…** " growled Infinite looking at Mecha. " **YOU PATHETIC PERSISTANT PIGEON! YOU'RE THE WORST PERSON I'VE EVER MET! I swear, one day, I'LL COME BACK TO KILL YOU! YOU ARE SUCH A BAD…ARGGH!** "

That was the last thing we heard from him before he flickered away. The last of his energy flew away and zapped into the tower.

I and Sonic looked at each other surprised of that.

"We…we won!" said Sonic. "We finally defeated Infinite!"

Sonic was smiling, but Mecha was showing the opposite.

I looked at him. He looked HURT. His Wispon was lying on the ground. He collapsed on his knees. He started to breath heavily and a few tears could be seen in his eyes. Sonic went up to him.

"Anything wrong?" he said.

Mecha hesitated at first. He then shook his head slowly. "No. I…I regret what I did."

"I'm sorry about it," said Sonic. "But we had to. He's an element of this war and we have to get rid of him."

"And should I feel proud of myself? No. He was my best friend…and I lost him as a friend…and now I lost him forever…and ever…he was right…maybe I was a bad friend…I'm such a…"

With that, Mecha broke into an uncontrollable cry. He put his hands over his face. Tears rapidly came out of his eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Sonic. "It's ok. It'll be ok."

Sonic patted Mecha on shoulder. Bubblegum came up to Mecha.

"I'm sorry for what just happened," she said.

"No…" said Mecha, standing up but still crying. "I'm SORRY for what I did. I didn't mean to leave you guys behind…"

He looked at me as I came up.

"R-Rookie…I'm…" he said with difficulty.

" **That's ok,** " I said. " **What matter most is that you're safe. I understand how you feel.** "

I smiled at Mecha, looking at his sad brown eyes with a scar on his face. Instantly, Mecha hugged me tightly, crying silently. I also wrapped my arms around him. I felt sorry for him as well.

Finally, Mecha let go. He tried to smile but tears still kept rolling down.

"Thanks, Rookie…" he said. "…for understanding."

Suddenly, Tails called us.

" _Guys!_ " he said. " _I found the source of the Phantom Ruby. Its source is inside the Fortress at the Power Source where Belt was there before._ "

" **The Power Source,** " I said. " **We saw machines that were glowing red. Those must be the Phantom Ruby's source power!** "

Sonic said, "Then let's shut it down…"

KABOOM!

A large explosion could be heard underneath us. It shook the ground a bit.

"What was that?" Sonic said.

"Wait a minute!" said Bubblegum. "When we're at the Power Source Room, Mecha dropped a smoke bomb there."

"Yeah, except that it isn't a smoke bomb," said Mecha wiping his tears. "It's an ACTUAL bomb."

" **How come it exploded?** " I said.

"Tough guess," explained Mecha shrugging. "But my bombs go off when I throw them or at the wrong time. That bomb might blow up by itself without any warning. I think that explosion is enough to destroy the entire room!"

I looked at Mecha dumbfounded. Sonic smiled.

"I guess that means we won!" he said. "With the power source destroyed, the Phantom Ruby FINALLY is powerless!"

* * *

We got out of the fortress and went over to a rocky ground where Tails was waiting.

"You guys did it!" he said happily. "And…what happened to Rookie?"

" **Don't worry,** " I said still in my dark form. " **I'm alright.** "

Tails noticed that Mecha was still upset. He's still recovering from his loss of Infinite.

"You're ok?" asked Tails.

"I'm…um…fine…" said Mecha sadly.

"We did it!" said Sonic in triumph. "Eggman Empire is officially butt-kicked. We won!"

He and I were about to do a fist bump when suddenly…

RUMBLE!

The ground started to shake.

"What the…" said Bubblegum.

"Oh, come on! Now what? Can't we ever just win and have that be the end of it?" complained Sonic.

"Look!" said Tails pointing in front of us.

I turned around. Coming out from the fortress was a GIGANTIC, MULTI-ARMED ROBOT.

"GOTCHA!" said Eggman from inside the robot. "The fortress power source was just a decoy. A true winner always keeps his trump card hidden until the end."

" _Guys!_ " called Richard. " _There are more replicas coming from nowhere!_ "

" _How come?!_ " called Silver.

" _There are thousands of them... EVEN REPLICAS OF INFINITE!_ " cried Emerald.

"What have you done?" snapped Sonic at Eggman.

"I merely incorporated the Phantom Ruby into this Death Egg Robot," replied Eggman.

"But that means the Phantom Ruby doesn't has a vulnerable energy supply. It's an invulnerable ruby?" asked Tails.

"Wait a minute," said Mecha before face palming. "I should have told you all early. The Phantom Ruby don't have a POWER SOURCE. It's already powerful ITSELF."

"A good deduction, you both," said Eggman. "Not only is this Death Egg Robot powered by the Phantom Ruby. The Light Wolf is in here too!"

" **BELT!** " I exclaimed.

"BELT!" Bubblegum and Mecha yelled.

We all had the same thought; Belt was INSIDE that robot and was used to power up.

"Also not ONLY that," said Eggman. "There are more Phantom Rubies in here."

"What?!" said Sonic in disbelief.

" **Wait a minute,** " I said. " **When we were at Death Egg, I spotted Eggman making more prototypes of the Phantom Ruby!** "

"So now the robot is powered by thousands of prototypes!" exclaimed Mecha.

"You will be crushed by this Death Egg Robot powered by the Phantom Ruby, the prototypes and the Light Wolf, and in the end, everything will still be just as I planned!" laughed Eggman.

"Your plan will end like all your other plans do; with you sitting in a pile of busted robot parts wondering how you failed so badly," said Sonic angrily. "We're going to destroy that Phantom Ruby and free the Light Wolf."

He turned to us. "Let's get him."

" **Let's end this once and for all!** " I said.

We charged towards the gigantic robot with Tails watching from safety.

We hopped onto a large mountain platform and the robot attacked. It started to shoot lasers and smashing its hands at us. Bubblegum tried using her Wispon to break down the robot. But the spike ball only bounced off the robot!

"This monster is hard as bedrock!" cursed Bubblegum.

Mecha took the bait. He did a massive leap and flew towards the arms.

"Get ready to get your fingernails cut!" he taunted.

Using his Wispon as a knife, he strike one of the fingers of the arm. He landed on the other side of the robot perfectly.

"Well, the hands aren't made of bedrock!" said Mecha.

At that moment, the finger that Mecha chopped off landed right behind him!

WHOMP!

Luckily, Mecha wasn't too close to the falling finger or he would be entirely squashed. But it took off some parts of him. The chopped-off feathers that were sticking to him were removed by the falling finger and under it. So Mecha's hair and tail appeared short again.

"Oh crud…" said Mecha annoyed.

He was cut off when a hand nearly hit him. It was not enough. The robot was indestructible. We could not find a way to destroy it. After a long time of avoiding attacks, Mecha called us.

"Guys!" he said. "I found a way to destroy that robot. The glass chest core is the way into the robot. If you go in there, you could destroy the rubies and free Belt. Without them, the robot will be powerless."

"But how are we going to get in?" asked Bubblegum.

"I'll give you a signal and you three go in. I'll hold him off."

Mecha went running up a hill before stopping. He turned to the robot and threw a smoke bomb at it.

BOOM!

The bomb exploded spilling out yellow smoke. The robot turned to see who did it.

"HEY YOLK-HEAD!" mocked Mecha in his loudest voice. "OVER HERE, YOU NEARLY-HATCHED EGG!"

This ticked Eggman off because the robot started to advance towards him. But Mecha was quick. He dodged every attack the robot could do. The bird didn't even broke a sweat! He was just enjoying the moment, continued to tease and threw smoke bombs. Finally, he threw a BLACK bomb at the glass core.

BOOM!

The glass core broke into millions of pieces.

"NOW!" called Mecha.

Listening to that, I flew to the entrance followed by Sonic using his homing attack and Bubblegum was using her grappling gun. As we entered, Eggman saw us from his Egg Mobile (which might be controlling the robot). In his hand was the Phantom Ruby. It started to glow. Looking behind, I saw the glass core getting rebuilt quickly.

"MECH SURE NOT TO MECH ANY MISTAKES!" called Mecha before the glass core closes.

"You!" snarled Eggman. Using his Egg Mobile, he started to fly towards us. Luckily, Bubblegum was prepared. She pulled out a pink gum and threw it at the flying mobile.

SPLAT!

The gum enlarged and splattered the mobile. It sticked to the floor.

"What?!" snapped Eggman. "I can't move!"

"That's because it's a special gum!" smirked Bubblegum.

We went into action. With Eggman trapped, we were able to grab the prototypes without any interruption. They were connected to wall holes. Sonic dashed on them, Bubblegum used her gum to grab them out and I used my force powers. One by one, the prototypes dropped to the ground and shattered.

" _Great going, guys!_ " called Mecha. " _I could see that the army of replicas is DECREASING!_ "

" **There's only one more,** " I said. That was the Phantom Ruby.

The Egg Mobile finally broke free of the pink gum and started to fly. Bubblegum leapt and was about to kick Eggman in the face. But the doctor jerked his head and Bubblegum flew above him before landing on the floor.

"Huh!" scoffed Eggman turning to Bubblegum. "You MISSED!"

"No, YOU MISSED this," said Bubblegum as she showed him what she was holding; the Phantom Ruby. She grabbed it out from him.

"What?!" snapped Eggman. "Give that back to me!"

"I'm sorry," smirked Bubblegum in a 'sweet' voice. "This might be the most powerful thing in the universe and it shouldn't fall into the WRONG HANDS."

And at that moment, she threw the Phantom Ruby to the ground, raised her foot and SCRUNCHED the ruby.

CRUNCH!

With the extra support of her spiked shoe soles, the ruby cracked. When Bubblegum was finished, the Phantom Ruby was nothing but a small pile of shattered gem pieces. It glowed red before turning grey. It was NO MORE.

"NO!" screamed Eggman in rage.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

Outside, the Resistance continued to fight the army of replicas. Just before anyone thought it would be over, the replicas started to flicker and disappeared.

One by one, they faded away. The Resistance soldiers were standing in their spots, shocked and confused.

"What's going on?" said Sebastian.

" _I've destroyed the Phantom Ruby,_ " said Bubblegum. " _It's no more!_ "

"We…we've won?" said Amy.

"Not yet!" called Knuckles. "Look!"

Looking at where he's pointing, the Resistance could see the large robot on the other side of the fortress. It was going around in circles trying to kill Mehca who continued to distract it.

"C'mon guys," said Minty. "Wherever you are, please hurry up."

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

Eggman was outrage.

"YOU COME BACK RIGHT HERE!" he growled.

His Egg Mobile advanced towards Bubblegum but she quickly went out of the way.

The robot wasn't defeated yet. There was one more thing to do.

" **Belt!** " I said remembering. " **Where is he?** "

"Up there!" said Sonic pointing up.

I looked up. Right up the ceiling was Belt (who still had his backpack) without his glasses on. He was dangling in the air with electric wires connected to his rings. It seemed that he was unconscious.

" **We need to get him!** " I said.

I started flying upwards. Sonic ran to a wall before running on it. Bubblegum used her grappling gun.

"Not this time!" bellowed Eggman.

He pressed a button and a giant fist hit Sonic.

WHAM!

Nearly. But this broke Sonic's speed. Stunned, he fell off and landed on the floor.

Eggman pulled out a gun. He's going to shoot Sonic!

" **No!** " I yelled.

I flew towards Sonic and landed in front of him. I was about to make shield until…

BOOM! PFFT!

I felt a sting on my arm. It felt like getting a flu vaccination. Looking on where I was shot, I saw a dart on my arm. As I took that dart off, I felt dizzy. I fell on the ground, face-first. I couldn't get up. I felt so weak.

"What did you do?!" sputtered Sonic.

"I wasn't expecting that," said Eggman stroking his chin. "That was a dart that's filled with poison. It will affect his blood and body soon."

"WHAT?!"

At that moment, Sonic yelled a cry of rage before rushing up to the Egg Mobile.

"Sonic, NO!" warned Bubblegum who was near Belt.

But Sonic didn't listened. He was avoiding flying fists from the mobile until one of them grabbed him. The hand pulled Sonic closer to Eggman.

"Here's your flu shot!" taunted Eggman.

He pulled the trigger but I quickly used the last of my energy. I used my force power to pull the dart away from Sonic. But I was too weak. I couldn't hold onto it and it was about to touch Sonic!

" **Bubblegum…** " I said weakly. " **…get Belt…** "

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

Hearing this, Bubblegum resumed climbing up. Hanging on the wall, she was about to jump onto Belt. But when she jumped…

CLING!

Another of the mobile's hand grabbed her foot! But Bubblegum was able to hold onto the wires.

Looking down, she could see Sonic trying to get his head away from the poison dart which was too close from touching him. Rookie was still using his force power to stop the dart but he was getting weaker. The Dark Wolf was lying on the ground, weakened by the poison and about to pass out.

But there was no time to waste. She got to take the wires away from Belt and that was the most important at this point. She tried pulling the wires but they wouldn't break!

"Stupid wires!" she cursed.

She was cut off when the arm started to pull her. Bubblegum continued to hold onto the wires but she was about to lose her grip! There was only one thing she could do.

"Belt!" she said looking at the red wolf's face. "Please wake up, Belt! Belt!"

She continued to yell in order to wake Belt up but nothing. Belt was still passed out….

 **Inside Belt's Mind…**

Belt couldn't wake up because he had a dream. When he first passed out from the shocking pain he had, it was all darkness. But then, he found himself in pitch black. There was almost nothing.

"Hello?" called Belt. "Is anyone here?"

No reply.

Just before he could do anything else, he felt something strange. It was coming from his arm. With no glasses on, he shouldn't be able to see but strangely, he could still see clearly.

Coming under from his glove was whiteness. It was spreading across from the wrist to the elbow. It was like how his brother got covered in darkness except that it wasn't painful but only felt weird.

He started to panic as he saw the whiteness. It covered his whole right arm and continued to spread across his body. Finally when his fur was fully white and no longer red, he felt powerful.

Screaming, he let out a big wave of light energy.

When the transformation was over, Belt breath heavily. It wasn't painful but it felt weird and he was scared. He never felt that powerful before.

His look was very different since he became the Ultimate Light Wolf. Other than his fur was white, his eyes and the purple parts of his shoes were mint green.

Blinking, Belt looked up. For some reason, he could see better and no need for his glasses anymore. Also for another strange reason, he was in a large white landscape with mint green waves in the sky.

"Where am I?" he thought.

"Hey there, our son," said a familiar voice.

Looking up, Belt saw two people in front of him.

They were both a centimetre higher than he was. They were both wearing brown slightly ripped robes with hoodies. They also had dark grey body suit and black boots. Looking at their faces, the left one was a light purple female wolf. On the right was a blue male wolf. Belt quickly recognized them.

"Mum?! Dad?!" he said in shock. His voice was different and like echoes.

"Long time since we last saw you," said the blue wolf, Booth (who was the dad).

"Good to see you," smiled the light purple wolf, Dory (who was the mum).

They went up to Belt but the Light Wolf quickly took a few steps.

"Wait! Please don't come up to me!" he pleaded.

"Why?" asked Booth.

"I don't want to hurt you…"

"We know that you won't hurt us," said Dory.

"But I hurt you before with my powers and…" said Belt with tears.

"Don't worry," said Booth. "You know, this it's just a dream. All that is happening now is not real."

The two wolf parents went up to their son.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you…" said Belt sadly. "I wish I never had took those rings before."

"It's ok," said Dory. "We forgive you. Just be grateful for the rings you got."

"But they killed people…"

"They don't. Clay is using his rings wisely."

"H…he did?"

"Yes," said Booth. "When you were used as a battery, Clay's powers were activated. He used them properly and only for good responsibilities. Not on other people."

"The powers you and Clay got are special," said Dory. "They don't kill people; they save people from danger."

Just then, Bubblegum's voice was heard.

"Belt! Wake up!"

"What was that?" said Belt looking around.

"It seems like it's your friend," said Booth. "And now you need to help the world and your brother."

"But what do I do?"

"Just use your powers," said Dory. "With great POWERS brings great RESPONSIBILITIES."

Belt heard that phrase before. And it might be worth it.

"Ok," he said. "I'll try."

"Good boy," smiled Booth. "Now it's time for you to go."

"B…but…I really want to see you guys…" cried Belt with tears in his eyes. "You are already dead and I would never get to see you again…"

"Don't worry," said Dory softly while stroking Belt's hair softly. "Don't blame yourself. You know it was just an accident. We might be GONE but that doesn't mean the memories of us are GONE. We'll still be in your heart, your memory and your life. We'll meet you again someday but not after a long time. For now on, keep on moving on and take care of Clay. Be a good brother. We'll always be with you."

Breaking into tears, Belt hugged his deceased parents. He knew it was a dream but it felt real hugging them.

"Don't be sad," said Booth. "It'll be ok. It'll be ok."

Finally, Belt let go.

"…*sniff*…see you later, Mum…see you later, Dad…" said Belt with difficulty.

He watched as his parents faded away into the air.

"See you our light wolf and happy birthday," they said as they disappeared.

When they were gone, the whole room slowly turned from white to black. Even Belt found himself changing back to normal. Back to his own red self. His vision became blurry again. Realising what to do, Belt closed his eyes…

…and woke.

"Belt!" said Bubblegum. "Finally!"

"Bubblegum?" said Belt. Though everything was blurry for him, he could see a blurry image of his friend.

"Hold on!" the pink cat said. "I'll find a way to get you out."

"No need," said Belt.

Using his powers, Belt's hands started to glow mint green. The electric wires took a lot of energy from his rings.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"What's going on?" said Eggman.

" _Battery overloaded,_ " said a computer voice. " _Could not hold too much power._ "

"NO! This thing will explode soon!"

Looking up, Eggman saw Belt giving all of his light energy to the robot.

"STOP!" he commanded. "STOP RIGHT NOW! YOU'RE GIVING TOO MUCH ENERGY!"

Belt didn't listen. He had to do this in order to save the world.

Bubblegum was looking around scared. The robot was shaking and some parts came off loose.

"What's going on?" she said.

"This is for my parents," said Belt before releasing a big burst of white and mint green energy.

From outside, the Resistance watched on. Mecha was still distracting the robot but he realised something was funny.

The robot was barely functioning. It was shaking. Suddenly, light energy shot out of the robot's back.

"Uh oh," said Mecha. "This doesn't look good."

The robot continued to shake and expand! It's going to blow up!

Running from the mountain, Mecha yelled to Tails, "TAKE COVER!"

KABOOM!

Everything went white. When everyone got their vision back, the Resistance could see the explosion of the large robot. White and mint green energy burst out like it was the flames and smoke. Pieces of the robot were flying everywhere before falling onto the ground.

Mecha was lying on the ground. He regained conscious. He got up and looked behind seeing the explosion. He watched as every piece fell to the ground. Finally, it was over.

CLONK!

Almost. A piece of metal hit Mecha on the head.

"Stupid piece of trash!" he cursed.

"Are you ok?" asked Tails coming out from his hiding spot.

"I'm ok," grumbled Mecha. He then realised something; was his friends ok?

"Oh no."

Mecha and Tails ran to the massive pile of robot pieces. They started looking through the scrapyard worried of what happened to their friends.

"SONIC!" cried Mecha as he looked through the pieces. "BUBBLEGUM?! ROOKIE?!"

He heard a groan. On his right was a red and white shoe. The leg was stuck in the junk pile. Mecha pulled Sonic out.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine," said Sonic smiling weakly.

"Where are the others?" asked Tails.

Not far from them, Bubblegum was lying on the pile of broken pieces. She woke up and groaned in pain. She looked on her right and saw Rookie; lying down on his chest with his fur colour fading a bit.

"Rookie!" cried Bubblegum.

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

Hearing Bubblegum's voice, I woke up. I tried to keep my eyes open but I felt so weak and dizzy.

She was on her knees holding onto my hand. From behind, Sonic, Mecha and Tails were running towards to see what was going on.

"Rookie?" said Sonic.

"What's going on?" said Mecha.

"Rookie…got poisoned in trying to save Sonic," said Bubblegum.

"Could he heal himself?" asked Tails.

"Rookie can't," said Mecha with difficulty. "He…doesn't…have any…healing powers…."

I was shocked. I can't heal myself? I looked at Mecha's goggles. I saw the reflection of myself. My fur colour was fading. The blackness was becoming a bit grey. My yellow aura was fading away. My eyes were fading colour as well.

" **What?** " I said weakly. " **Does this mean I'll…?** "

"No, no, no!" said Bubblegum. "You can't die!"

"Please hold on for a little longer!" pleaded Mecha.

The two looked extremely concern. They didn't wanted to lose me and I didn't want to pass away. But time was almost up. There was no other thing to do.

" **I guess that this means goodbye…** " I said weakly.

"Please no!" cried Bubblegum. "I can't lose you too!"

" **It's ok, Bubblegum. Can't you see? We won. We won and the world can live in peace. We became heroes. At least I could die knowing I did an important part of this war….can you guys do one more promise for me?** "

"W…what is it?" said Mehca who started to be teary.

" **Make…make the world a better place,** " I choked out.

There was silence for a while.

"Make the world…" said Bubblegum with tears in her eyes. "That's what my father wanted to do…"

" **So do I,** " I said smiling weakly. " **It might be end of the war but one thing for sure; it's not over yet. There are still people in need and threats that will happen in the future. I want all of you to do everything you can do, stop any villains from taking over and protect the world from danger. No more lives to be lost. I won't be here but I'll watch you. I'll be with you and become your shadow. You are my friends that I'll always love.** "

My vision became blurry. My head started to spin. I felt weak. My fur continued to fade and almost became grey.

"No…" said Sonic. "Rookie…"

"Please hold on…" pleaded Bubblegum.

" **I couldn't…** " I said, crying as well. " **But like I said, sacrifices have to happen. I'll still be with you…just please take care of my brother. As long as he's still alive, I'm happy.** "

"We'll try to find him…" said Mecha.

"Sayonara, Rookie…" said Bubblegum softly, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'll never forget you…"

"Wait…" said Sonic. "We still don't know your real name before. Can you tell us?"

I tried to speak but I started to feel worse.

" **My…name…is…C…** " I whispered.

Before I could finish, my eyes were closed, my vision became dark and I felt so weak and numb. I couldn't wake up. I'm dead.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

They watched as Rookie's eyes were closed. He laid on the ground lifelessly.

Mecha put his hand on his back to check his heartbeat.

"His heart is barely beating…" said Mecha with difficulty. "He'll be gone soon…"

True to word, Rookie's fur continued to fade. It was about to turn grey and when that happened, it was too late.

Bubblegum, still in front of him, started to cry. Mecha took a step back, tears in his eyes. Sonic and Tails watched in shock and sadness.

Right behind them, Emerald and Sebastian came running towards them, wanting to see what's going on. When they saw the grey Rookie, their smiles dropped. They realised what's going on and there was nothing they could do.

Emerald looked at Bubblegum, weeping tears and letting them dropped to the metal plates.

"I'm so sorry…at least Rookie will be in a better place," said Emerald sadly, back to her old self.

"But what's the POINT?" said Bubblegum. "Rookie would be in heaven or someplace else…"

She stopped. Then spoke again.

"Do you remember all the fun times we had…? Do you remember all the hard times we faced through…? Do you remember how we get to learn about each other…? I just wanted to be with them. First my father…and…and now…"

Bubblegum broke into an uncontrollable cry. She put her hands on her eyes as tears continued to flow. Emerald's weak smile faded to a sad frown. Sebastian bowed down, paying respect. It was awfully silent.

Sonic was looking at the lifeless Rookie for a long time. He couldn't believe that a close friend of him was going to be gone soon. There's still got to be a solution.

BUZZ!

Jerking his head up, Sonic heard an electrical buzz. Looking on his right, he saw a mint green glowed from under a pile of wires. Stepping away from the mourning, he went up closer to the glow. He stopped when a burst of light energy came out. A flying creature came out from the pile of wires. It was BELT. In his Ultimate Light Wolf form.

His fur was white, his eyes and the purple parts of his shoes were mint green.

Sonic was shocked.

"Are you Belt?" he asked.

Belt nodded, breathing heavily after using almost all of his energy. He floated down and landed on the ground.

"Um…have you seen my brother?" said Belt.

Sonic looked down sadly. "I'm afraid you're too late."

Belt looked behind him and saw Rookie, almost about to be grey. His rings were also about to lose power.

The rest didn't know Belt was there, except for Mecha who knew about him.

The Light Wolf shook his head. "It's not too late," he said.

He started to make a glowing light white ball.

"With my light powers, you'll be REBORN," said Belt as he threw the glowing ball.

The energy ball turned into light magic. It started to head towards Rookie, who was going to be dead in a split seconds.

Knowing what would happen, Mecha gently pulled Bubblegum away from Rookie. Bubblegum looked at Mecha who was smiling.

"What?" she asked.

Mecha didn't answer. There was no need. The light energy whooshed past them and got into Rookie like a curse. But it's a cure. When that happened, his fur started to turn back to black. His rings regained power. His glowing aura came back. Next, Rookie started to open his eyes!

Bubblegum watched in surprised. So were the rest of them. They realised the same thing; Rookie was still ALIVE.

* * *

 **Clay's POV**

Or at least what I thought. For a while, everything was dark but then, I felt a light magic coming into my body. I didn't feel weak and dizzy anymore. I felt powerful again and got my energy back.

I opened my eyes. I was alive? I felt Bubblegum picking me up to my feet. In tears, she hugged me tightly. I was still confused.

"How come I'm still alive?" I thought. "That poison already killed me but how come I'm back here? Is this a dream?"

"Rookie…" cried Bubblegum. "…I thought you were gone…"

" **What…** " I said. " **How come I'm alive? Is this a dream? Am I in heaven?** "

"No, you are not," smiled Mecha. "You didn't die. You are healed."

" **By who?** "

Mecha pointed to my left. I looked at where he was pointing. It was my brother, Belt, standing next to Sonic. He was all white, seemingly in his Ultimate Light Wolf form.

I looked at him surprised. We hadn't seen each other for the past three days and finally, we were able to see each other again.

Breaking into tears, I ran up to him. In tears of joy, we hugged each other. It was one of the best moments I had in my life.

" **Belt…** " I cried in tears. " **I'm so sorry for leaving you…I didn't mean to run off.** "

"It's ok," said Belt in tears as well. "We're safe and that is more important."

We finally let go. Belt smiled at me.

"Happy that you're ok, Clay," he said.

"Clay?" said Sonic. "That's your name?"

I nodded. " **Yep.** "

Sonic smiled. "Now we know each other better."

Bubblegum and Mecha ran up to us.

"Belt," said Bubblegum. "Thank you for bringing our friend back to life."

"You're welcome," said Belt. "I see that Clay made some new friends."

"I like you guys better when you're in your original colours," said Mecha.

I suddenly realised this; I was still in my Ultimate form and I didn't know how to transform back to normal. I missed my old self.

" **Um…Belt,** " I said. " **How do I…?** "

Belt said nothing. Instead, he went up to me and stroke one of my rings. In a flash, I turned back into my normal turquoise self. Belt stroke his rings as well and in a split second, he turned back. His fur was back from white to red. But something wasn't right; when Belt transformed back to his normal self, he looked confused.

He blinked a few times before rubbing his eyes. I realised that his glasses were destroyed and he couldn't see clearly. That was when I realised what day it was.

Taking out the new glasses that I was saving from my left vest pocket, I gave it to Belt.

"Here," I said. "This is for you. Happy birthday."

Belt took them and put his new glasses on. He blinked before getting a clearer view.

"I like them," he said happily. "Thanks, Clay!"

Again, he hugged me. I savoured the happy moment.

"Wait," said Emerald "Will Clay…?"

"No," said Mecha. "Only once, Clay's emotions would turn him into the Ultimate Dark Wolf. For now on, he could control his transformation."

At that moment, the whole Resistance team came up. They were cheering for us and the victory. We won and the war was finally over.

Many people crowded around, congratulating us. At one point, a familiar person pushed through the crowd to get to us. It was the orange hedgehog I saw at Forest Tournament Town.

"Good greetings," he said.

"Who is he?" I wondered.

"That's Mayor Wills," said Mecha. "The mayor of our town."

Mayor Wills looked at Belt.

"Hey Belt," he said. "Long time no see."

"Yeah," said Belt patting me on my back. "I would like you to meet my brother, Clay."

Mayor Wills shook my hand. "Nice to meet you. Well done on saving us from that sun."

I smiled. The orange hedgehog looked at Bubblegum who was chatting to some of the Resistance soldiers.

"Beth Lehem," he said.

Bubblegum turned her head to him. "Yes?"

"You have done it. You showed that you are more than a police rookie."

"I did?"

"It wasn't just destroying the Phantom Ruby and working with Sonic that did it all; it was the police skill inside you. Your kind, caring, heroism, courage, selfless, discipline and strong-willed nature that guided you throughout this war."

"Wait. How did you…?"

Bubblegum stopped when she saw Emerald cheekily smiling at her.

"You don't have to say it to the Mayor," smiled Bubblegum.

"Your father and the deceased Police Chief wanted to make the world a better place," continued the Mayor. "'I believe that you have accomplished that dream."

Bubblegum's eyes widened up, couldn't believe what she just heard.

"So I'm proud to say that from now on you're the NEW POLICE CHIEF," said Mayor Wills as he pulled out a golden badge.

Bubblegum looked at the badge surprised. The Mayor pinned the badge on her vest. Bubblegum was staring at it. She became the leader of the police.

Jumping up and down, she squealed, "Thank you, Mayor! Thank you so much!"

"Looks like Bubblegum is not at the bottom of the leader board anymore," Mecha said to me. "For the first time, I'm proud of her for doing something that GOOD."

"You THREE did something GOOD," said Sonic to us. "Mecha defeated Infinite, Rookie cleared out the sun and Bubblegum took the Phantom Puby from Eggman."

"And speaking of Eggman, where is he?" said Sebastian angrily. "He's got a knife-cutting, butt-poking experience he'll get…"

That was the first time I ever saw Sebastian that angry. That was the first time I ever saw Sebastian that angry. I looked over and the pile of junk. Eggman was nowhere in sight. Something caught my eye. A PHANTOM RUBY REPLICA.

"Either he's dead or still alive," said Mecha looking around.

Nobody else saw the ruby replica. But it wasn't important. It turned grey; losing its power. A sudden thought came to my head.

"What if Eggman is still alive?" I thought. "Maybe he used that ruby to teleport somewhere else?"

Looks like Eggman lost," chuckled Sonic. "He'll have the next few months to lick his wounds!"

"It's not over yet," said Sonic to the whole Resistance. "It's time we clean up the mess Eggman left this world in. We need to fix the real world we all live in."

The whole Resistance cheered in response. I smiled.

"How hard can that be?" I thought.

* * *

 **AN: It'll be harder than he thinks!**

 **Just kidding. Nobody died in this chapter. Almost. In the actual game, Eggman's fate was unknown after being defeated by the Resistance but I think he was stuck under a pile of robot pieces*. Also, it was unknown what happened to Infinite but I bet that he'll be BACK in the NEXT game.**

 ***New note - I used Eggman's fate in the actual game. He later appeared in the IDW comic series as a result but without his memories (possibly the effects of the ruby).**

 **Anyway, the Resistance finally won. Clay revealed his name and reunite with his brother. But it's not over yet. There's one more chapter. We'll see what really happened to Clay's parents and why Belt blame himself. Leave a review and see you all next week!**


	10. No Longer a Lone Wolf

**AN: Finally! The last chapter is here. I hope you enjoy the finale. (Note: I'm introducing a new character whose appearance represents one of the Just Dance 2018 characters! I just did that for fun and I love Just Dance.).**

* * *

 **Chapter 10 - No Longer a Lone Wolf**

 **San Francisco, 31/07 (at 6 pm)**

"OK, can I take that back?" I thought.

It's already in the afternoon. After a quick rest, the Resistance started to help rebuilding some of the cities in the world. We started with San Francisco first.

I was able to teach myself how to change back into my Ultimate Dark Wolf form. That way, I could fly and pick up heavy things during the construction. But it wasn't that fun. At that moment, I was helping to refix the Golden Gate Bridge. So far, I ACCIDENTLY knocked over some of the walls and nearly hurt people when bricks were dropped. Though I felt powerful, I was EXHAUSTED.

Finally, after putting one of the walls back onto the bridge, I flew down and landed onto the road. A human female worker came up to me.

" **Sorry that I almost destroyed the bridge,** " I said.

"That's ok," said the worker. "At least we got it fixed, right little puppy?"

As she rubbed my head, I said, " **I'm a wolf, not a pup.** "

"Yeah," she said. "But I find it cuter."

I blushed a bit. When we first came to the construction, I felt uncomfortable. I wasn't looking forward to helping the humans because of how I thought they would treat me as a wolf. But instead, I was treated like a little puppy. It was a bit embarrassing.

As the worker walked off, Silver flew towards me using his telekinesis.

"So how is it going, Rookie?" he asked.

" **It was hard,** " I said. " **Although I don't feel tired, I'm pretty exhausted from fixing this bridge. It took me almost an hour to do this. Also, I miss being my original self.** "

"You just have to get used to it."

" **Anyway, I'm going to take a break. I'm going to see how my brother is doing.** "

"Ok, see you later!"

I went off. I was flying but I'm just one metre above the ground. I wanted to take a closer look of the city construction.

As I flew by, I looked at some of the buildings. Most of them were broken but some of them have been fixed. It was a nice scene.

They were still people fixing those buildings. At one point, I saw the Red Squad finishing up a small house. They waved at me as I flew by. I waved back. I felt great being a hero but I just wanted to go home already.

When I went around a corner, I bumped into something. It was a tall pile of bricks on a moving barrel, and it was about to fall on the person who was pushing that barrel.

CRUMBLE!

The bricks fell onto that person like flattening a pancake. I stopped and landed on the ground.

"Uh oh," I thought. "This can't be good."

"Dude!" said a voice in an Indian accent. "Captain won't be happy."

Looking behind the big pile of bricks was another person. It was a hot-pink male bear. He wears a teal sleeveless hoodie with a hood on his head (his ears popping out from the hood), a black shirt, a teal left leather glove, a gold right leather glove, a large dark purple belt, black pants with pink lightning bolts printed on them and black shoes with yellow tongues. He has black stripes that appear on his ears, sides of his head and arms but not across his face. He also wears a studded bracelet.

"We need to get him out now!" said the bear.

The two of us took the pile of bricks off the person revealing to be a black cat with a yellow hoodie. He was lying on the floor unconscious.

" **Oh no,** " I said. " **Don't tell me he's dead.** "

"Well that might be the bad news," said the bear. "But the good news is…"

"WHAT THE FREAKING HAIRBALL WERE YOU DOING?!" yelled the cat with his eyes still closed.

"Just kidding, there's no good news…" said the bear.

The black cat picked himself up and looked at me angrily.

" **I'm sorry for what I did,** " I said.

"'Sorry' is not going to help!" snarled the black cat.

" **It's just an accident!** "

"Accident my butt!"

"Please go easy on him, Captain…" said a familiar voice. "You just met him."

The black cat sighed. I looked around to see who said that. It was the yellow female wolf I saved at the town attack! She timidly waved at me.

"Um…hi…" she said shyly.

" **Hi…** " I said shyly.

For the first time, I noticed how pretty she was. I felt myself blushing and my tail wagging.

"Um…thanks for helping me from Infinite back then…" said the female wolf.

" **Err…you're welcome…** " I said trying to sound confident.

"I wish that my family could see you…they were killed by that…"

The female wolf looked sad. I felt sorry for her.

" **Don't worry,** " I said. " **I'm a bit of a lone wolf like you.** "

Smiling, the female wolf hugged me gently. I even wrapped my arms around me. It seemed nice until…

"Oi," said the black cat, interrupting us. "Are you two lovebirds done yet? We got work to do."

Realising how long I've been hugging, I let go of the female wolf. We both blushed. Just then, I heard snickering. It was coming from a nearby building. I looked up and saw two pairs of ears hiding behind the window; one pink cat ears and one ice blue rabbit ears. I could tell who it was.

The black cat put all of the bricks back on the barrel. He was about to go but I said, " **Hey, I didn't get to know you yet. I'm Clay. Who are you?** "

The black cat said, "I'm Tom, the leader of the Blazers. By my side is Xander and Cassie."

"Nice to see you, dude," said Xander (the hot-pink bear).

Cassie (the yellow female wolf) waved at me timidly again.

" **Wait a minute,** " I said. " **Bubblegum and Emerald are in your team, right?** "

"Yes," said Tom. "I'm looking for a new team member. Our last team member left us a day ago. Mind joining in?"

" **Sure.** "

"Good. I'll give you the enrolment-forms when we get back to town."

Tom and Xander turned around to walk off. Cassie just stood in her spot.

"It's nice seeing you," she said.

" **I guess…** " I said shyly.

"Um…please don't tell anyone this."

She went up to me and KISSED ME ON THE CHEEK (I'm not even kidding!). I blushed. Cassie blushed as well.

"See you later," she said.

She walked off. As I watched her went around the corner in awe, I blushed more and my tail wagged. I hold onto the cheek I was kissed. I barely believed it.

There was snickering again. It was coming from the same building. Looking up, I saw the two pairs of ears hiding behind the window again. Annoyed, I teleported to the building in the room where they were hiding.

It was Bubblegum and Emerald. And they were giggling.

" **Bite me,** " I growled. " **Do you have too?** "

They continued to giggle.

" **What's so funny?** " I said.

"Isn't it obvious, love dove?" snickered Bubblegum.

" **What?** "

"YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH CASSIE!" laughed Emerald.

I blushed. " **No I'm not!** "

"Yes you are!" laughed Bubblegum.

" **I don't like her. Not that kind of 'don't like'. It's more like not interested in her."**

"But you do! You were blushing right there and your tail was wagging!"

" **You're just hallucinating.** "

"No we're not. We saw everything! Shall we see it again?" said Emerald as she held up her phone. SHE RECORDED EVERYTHING.

Embarrassed, I snatched the phone out of Emerald's hand and deleted the video.

"Aw," said Emerald as I gave it back to her. "I wanted to post it online."

" **Don't you dare,** " I growled.

"Anyway, I think you and Cassie are a perfect match," said Bubblegum smiling.

" **I don't think so,** " I said rubbing my hair. " **I barely know her and I just met her.** "

"Well Cassie is a bit like you, so maybe you should hang out with her."

" **I guess so. Anyway, have you see Belt? I want to see him.** "

"We saw him. We could show you where he is."

We went off to see where Belt was. It didn't took long. We found him at a small apartment, fixing a door.

"Ah," said Bubblegum. "There he is."

" **Wait a minute,** " I said. " **How come he isn't using his light powers?** "

It's true. Belt was plain fixing that building without using his powers.

"I'm not sure," said Emerald. "I asked him why but he changed the subject."

" **Maybe we could try again,** " I said.

"You tell him. After all, Belt trust you more."

I went up to him. He noticed me.

"Oh," he said. "Hey, Clay."

" **How are you doing, Belt?** " I asked.

"I'm almost done with this building. Only a few more minutes to go."

" **Shouldn't you use your powers?** "

"Oh…um…I don't use them that much."

"Well you did this morning," said Bubblegum coming up. "To destroy that huge robot and save Clay."

"Well yeah…I don't like using them…" said Belt uncomfortably.

" **Why's that?** " I asked.

"Um…because…" Belt hesitated. He finally took a deep breath. "Clay, do you remember the photo of our parents I had?"

I nodded.

" **Yeah?** "

"I'll tell you the truth about them…" said Belt.

" **What happened to them?** " I asked.

Belt hesitated again. He took another deep breath before blurting out, "They…are…dead…"

There was silence for a while.

"It…it was my fault…" said Belt with difficulty. "11 years ago…I was out in the woods by myself and found those two pairs of magical rings in a cave. I was so young and didn't know what they are for. I put one pair on and they were stuck on my hands. I showed it to our parents. They weren't happy that I went out by myself but they were more concern about the pair of rings I was wearing and the other pair I brought home. Our conversation was interrupted when an Eggman robot came into our house. I didn't realised until now was that Eggman wanted to use the rings for power. Our parents tried to rescue you but they got cornered by that robot. I tried to help but accidently used my powers and caused an explosion…"

Belt stopped. He started to shed a few tears.

"When I woke up…" he continued. "I found out that the robot was gone. Including our parents. There were no remains of them. They…were…gone. I found you in your room but accidently let the other pair of rings got onto your hands. From that day, I swore that I'll protect you from any danger….So I've locked your powers as I was very worried for you. The reason why I didn't let you go out was because I was worried that you might use your powers by mistake. They were nothing but deadly threats. I'm so sorry of what I did to our parents…I'm sorry of not telling you…Therefore, I'm not WORTHY to be called your brother…"

Belt started crying. I was shocked by everything he said. He had kept it for so long and felt guilty about his actions all these years. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. There was no point to be mad at him.

" **Hey…** " I said softly. " **I'm not mad at you. I understand. You've killed our parents but you don't mean to. You were young back then and didn't expect that to happen. It was just a mistake and I'm sure you wouldn't hurt anyone else. Mum and Dad would be proud of us for taking care of each other. As long as you are safe, I'm happy that I'm not a lone wolf. You're my brother and you're my only one.** "

I touched my brother's shoulder. Belt then hugged me in tears. I smiled and wrapped my arms around him.

"Aw!" said Emerald. "They look so cute!"

"T…thank you…" said Belt in tears of joy.

" **You're welcome,** " I said.

* * *

 **Third Person's POV**

What they didn't know was that Mecha and Sebastian heard the whole thing. They were on the other side of the apartment but they could hear them. They watched as Clay and Belt embraced.

"I'm surprised," said Sebastian. "Clay is very FORGIVING. It's a good thing that they got along so well with each other. Right, Mecha?"

But he realised that Mecha wasn't with him. In his place was a pile of planks.

Eventually, Mecha became emotional. He was upset about the conservation. Clay and Belt were happy together and forgave each other for their flaws but Mecha couldn't. His friend didn't want to become good again and is forever gone.

Mecha walked down the streets with tears in his eyes and saying all over, "Mi vida apesta." (which means 'my life sucks' in Spanish)

He then stopped on top of a hill. Leaning back at one of the buildings, he watched the slow beautiful sunset. With tears, he hummed softly.

What he didn't know was that at the top of a building, Sonic accidently bumped into a barrel of bricks. It fell off the edge and was about to hit Mecha.

"HEADS UP!" warned Sonic.

Too late.

CLONK! TONG! BONK! DONG!

Mecha was hit on the head with hundreds of bricks. His face screwed up.

Sonic and Tails came down to help him.

"Sorry," said Sonic as he helped the mad Mecha up. "My mistake."

Mecha just looked at him grimly before saying, "Qualunque Cosa."

Sonic looked confused. "For once, can you speak in English instead of muttering in other languages?"

"It's just a habit of mine. Whatever."

Sonic quickly realised Mecha's feeling depressed.

"Everything okay?" asked Sonic.

Mecha sighed and shook his head. "Listen, Sonic. I know that Zero, or you called him 'Infinite', might be bad but I still find him as a friend."

"Well but he isn't a good friend," pointed out Tails.

"Yes but I miss him," cried Mecha in tears. "And now he's dead and I'll never get to see him again.

"I don't think he is dead," said Sonic. "Remember when Infinite got zapped back into the fortress. I think that he was sent back where he was 'built'. He must be recovering and will be back soon."

Mecha stopped crying. "He…he is?"

"We think so," said Tails. "Hopefully not. If he does, he'll make war again."

"And?" said Mecha his eyes narrowing.

"We'll still have to fight him," said Sonic.

"No," said Mecha. "There's no way I'm going to fight him or let him be killed."

"But you did that earlier today."

"That was different. I don't have any choice. My sister convinced me to do it before I came to help you. But I don't want to do it again. I don't want to harm him anymore."

"But Mecha, don't you know how dangerous Infinite is?"

"But he is a good person. I know it. Can't we just convince him to stop?"

"There's no point changing him. I'm sorry but we have to terminate him and that's the only way."

"No. All you want is to have war with him. WAR is not the solution…"

"Mecha!" said Sonic firmly and giving him a serious look. "Are you smart enough to know?! He…is…evil. He'll never change. I know you think that Infinite's a good friend to you but he's not anymore. I know it's hard but accept that. UNDERSTAND?"

"Oh, I UNDERSTAND every fact in this universe," said Mecha with his voice raising. "But do you know what you don't UNDERSTAND; HOW IT'S FEELS LIKE TO LOSE SOMEONE! All I wanted is to make amends with Zero to make me feel better…but…you…don't seem to CARE about that."

"You don't seem to CARE about other people's FEELINGS as well before," pointed out Sonic. "If you weren't such a BIG FAT JERKY BULLY to everyone in the first place, none of this mess would happened!"

Those words moved Mecha more than the effect of hundred bricks being dropped on his head. Was he right? Maybe his actions were the reasons why Zero betrayed him? All he did was just stand around and watched Zero got beaten up … so maybe that's the real reason. He didn't care to help. Though Mecha is very smart, Sonic is older with more experience. Mecha started to nod and shook his head many times. Finally, he took those words to heart.

Taking off his ear piece and handing it to Sonic, Mecha said, "Fine. You've said it. I GIVE UP. It's nice getting to know you but I wished Zero could say the same thing to ME. Continue to protect the world. Call me if you need me…but please…give me some time alone now…I'm done fighting for…"

Turning around, Mecha started to walk away.

"Wait!" said Sonic. "I didn't mean to…"

"You're right, Sonic," said Mecha with watery eyes. "It's time for me to change my ways. I'm going to find a solution. Sorry if this doesn't work out for everyone. Tweet tweet, Sonic the Hedgehog."

Sonic and Tails watched in concern as the distressed turquoise bird continued to walk off. They watched as he walked towards the large sunset before disappearing down the hill.

* * *

 **Clay's POV, Resistance HQ, 10/08**

"Ah," I said. "There's my backpack."

As I entered into the storage room, Belt said, "Why did you leave your bag there?"

"It's a long story," I said grabbing my backpack. "I was upset that I'd forgotten about it."

It's been almost 2 weeks of fixing some cities in the world. But luckily, thanks to both ours' powers, we were able to bring back what could have been taken 6 months. The rest of the cities said that they don't need help as they're close to finishing rebuilding.

After showing Belt a bit more of the Resistance HQ, we both went into where the rest of the members were.

Getting inside the headquarters, there were many chattering to one another.

"Hey there, Colourz brothers!" greeted Bubblegum.

"Hey Bubblegum," I and Belt said.

I looked around. There weren't many people there. A few squads went off. It seemed like my squad was the only one to be in this room. Then I realised something.

"Where's Mecha?" I asked.

"I don't know," said Bubblegum.

"He disappeared and nowhere to be seen," said Sebastian sadly. "I think he's gone."

"No," said Sonic. "I chat to him that day he vanished. He was torn up with the war and his actions. He ran off, wanting to 'change his own ways'."

"I hope that he's ok," sighed Sebastian.

Upon finishing typing on his computer, Knuckles called out to the whole Resistance.

"Finally, an end to this endless battle," he said. "Everyone can relax and go home. There is no need for the Resistance."

"There's still a lot to do," pointed out Silver. "We are just getting started."

"He's right," said Richard with Mic and Minty next to him. "All the Resistance squads wanted us ask you if we could continue. They wanted to go on with the army and protect the world."

"Ok then," said Knuckles. "The Resistance squads could still work here if they want to. For now on, I want you, Red Squad, to be in charge of the army. Is that fine with you guys?"

Richard, Mic and Minty nodded.

Knuckles then looked at us.

"You, Black Squad," he said. "You have been one of our greatest teams we ever have. At the beginning, you were a bit difficult. Your teamwork didn't work out well. But as time passed by, you learnt how to work with each other. You all did a great job. Belt, are you fine to join us?"

Belt nodded. "If my brother is going, then I'm going."

"Sir," said Emerald. "Sebastian and I think that Clay, Bubblegum and Mecha should be thanked more."

Knuckles looked at me and Bubblegum. Belt took a step back.

"Clay, Bubblegum and Mecha," said Knuckles. "You three did a great job. Clay, or called Rookie or Dark Wolf; I guessed you aren't a rookie anymore! You were able to clear out the virtual sun and saved all of us. Bubblegum, you destroyed the Phantom Ruby. Thanks to you, we don't have to worry about it anymore. And Mecha, who isn't here. Wherever he is, we like to thank him for defeating Infinite even though it was hard for him to face that. As our sincere appreciation, I'm giving these to you."

Taking out from a box, Knuckles gave us three shiny golden medals. I smiled. Bubblegum grinned. But I would be happier if Mecha was there.

Bubblegum and I put on our medals. The Resistance clapped politely.

"If you see that mech bird, give this medal to him and say that we thank him for helping," said Knuckles handing Mecha's medal to me.

"I will," I said holding on to it.

"You know that we just started," said Richard. "So Black Squad, are you going to continue working with us?"

Bubblegum, Emerald and Sebastian looked at the Red Squad. They smiled but not for long. Slowly, Emerald and Sebastian gave their ear pieces to Richard.

"We want to," said Bubblegum sadly. "But we have to go."

"You're leaving us?" said Mic.

"Where are you going?" asked Minty.

"We are going back home," said Bubblegum.

"Back to Australia?" said Knuckles.

Bubblegum nodded sadly.

"I wish that you could stay longer," said Richard.

"Same too," said Bubblegum. "But our families are waiting for us back home. After all, families are very IMPORTANT. It's been an honour to meet all of you. We will miss you but if you need us, call us. Also, you should come to our home; Forest Tournament Town. It's not all about the fashion or bragging rights that we have. We have special events, new trends and more! You would like it. In our hearts, we are always part of the Black Squad and always be your Resistance Rebels."

As she finished, she took off a long strip of bandage she put on her right arm. She revealed to all of us that she got a new tattoo. It was the symbol of the Resistance.

"We'll miss you guys as well," smiled Knuckles.

Everyone clapped again. I cleared my throat.

"Everyone," I said. "I and Belt are joining the Black Squad back to their home."

"Yeah, we are going to start a new life," said Belt.

"You're going with them as well?" said Knuckles. "Ok then. I'm not going to stop you guys."

"Man. The first time I saw you stumbling around, I have many doubts about you," said Vector as he went up to me. "But I changed my mind about you."

I smiled and thought "Well that's good…"

My thought was cut off when Vector gave me a huge pat on the back. So HUGE that I almost fell. He then rubbed my brother on the head playfully.

"I even changed my mind about you as well," said Vector to Belt.

Belt and I looked at each other confused.

"You have been the greatest soldier in the Resistance," said Silver. "We will remember you."

I smiled. The Resistance gave me praises. But even without them, I felt happy. Finally, Bubblegum said that it was time to go.

Sonic went up to me.

"Are you definitely going to move away?" he asked.

"Yeah, no matter what," I said.

"Heh, we aren't so different."

Sonic put his fist in front of me, wanting to do a fist bump. I was about to but I dropped my hand slowly. Thinking that it would be the last time I get to see him, I wrapped my arms around Sonic. I shed a few tears.

After a few seconds, Sonic let go. "Ok then, Clay. I'm not really a hugger."

"I'm not big on fist bumps as well," I said.

Sonic noticed that I was a bit sad. "Don't worry, Clay. We will see each other in another time."

I smiled sadly. "This have been a long bumpy road. I think my friends need to learn a lesson. I mean we ALL need to learn a lesson. We need to look out for each other. Nobody can achieve their own dreams by themselves. When doing it solo, nobody would win. But if we work together, we would be able to succeed. Teamwork is very important. We even need to care for each other and learn about each other more because that's what friends do. Nobody have to go alone."

I took off my cross necklace and hand it to Sonic.

"Here," I said. "Take it."

"Your necklace?" said Belt.

"It's just a necklace. There are other necklaces I could still buy."

As Sonic took it, he said, "Why do you want me to have it?"

"It's because I want you to keep it," I said. "It's my gift of gratitude to you. The cross is very special. It contains God's love and kindness. Also my love to our friendship. Don't lose it because it's very meaningful and important."

Sonic put on the necklace. "Thanks for the necklace."

"No," I corrected. "Thank YOU for helping me find Belt and becoming my friend."

"See you later, Dark Wolf."

He raised his fist and I did the same. Doing one more fist bump, I said, "See you later, Blue Hedgehog."

I turned around and so did Belt. We headed for the exit. Emerald and Sebastian followed us. I looked on my right and saw Bubblegum talking to Richard.

"I'll miss you," said Richard.

"Don't worry," said Bubblegum. "I'll call you."

At that moment, they KISSED (I'm not kidding).

"Gross," muttered Minty turning puke green.

Bubblegum waved goodbye to the Red Squad and followed us.

"Good luck," said Mic. "You are one of the most amazing heroes. You did the impossible."

I smiled. "But the most impossible thing nobody could do is saying goodbye to all of you."

Before I went left for the final time, I waved timidly at the Resistance. Sonic gave me a thumbs-up. That was the last thing I saw before leaving the room.

Belt, Bubblegum, Emerald, Sebastian and I went into the plane stables. Mayor Wills and the Tournament Teams were waiting for us. They got a huge plane that could take us back home. They also bought a few boxes of Wispons so that they could make copies of them just in case.

Before I went into the plane, Tom looked at me.

"You're ready?" he asked.

"I am," I said.

We all got onto the plane. I sat down on a bench with Belt. We looked at each other happily getting ready to start a new life.

* * *

 **Forest Tournament Town, 12/08**

Two days later, everything was back to normal. The town was fixed and back in its condition prior to the war. Belt and I were able to move into the town and brought all of our stuff there.

That night, there was going to be a party to celebrate the freedom of the war. It was said to be big and awesome.

"C'mon, Belt," I said as I got out of our new home. "The party's about to start."

"Ok!" said Belt running down the stairs. "I'm coming!"

Closing the door, Belt and I looked around. The town had been brought to life. There were lights flashing from the middle. Fireworks could be seen from the sky. It was amazing.

"This town is pretty nice," I said.

"Yeah," said Belt. "I wish we were here in the first place."

As we talked, I didn't notice somebody was behind me. It was Emerald. But the second she grabbed my belt, I quickly turned around. She giggled.

" **Emerald!** " I growled. " **Do you have to pull down my p…?** "

ZAP!

I felt a big shock of electricity. I looked around and saw Bubblegum, in a ninja robe and holding an Electric Taser.

"Bubblegum!" I said annoyed.

"GOTCHA DOOKIE!" smirked Bubblegum. "Now, we're even!"

At first, I didn't know what she was talking about. But then, I remembered that she was trying to get a revenge for giving her that rotten apple.

"Ok," I said patting my back. "I kind of deserve that,"

Right next to Bubblegum was Sebastian who put on the clothes he bought in Japan but still had on his usual mouth bandanna.

"Like your new home?" he asked.

"It's very nice here," said Belt.

"Bubblegum," I said. "How is being the new Police Chief?"

"It's good!" said Bubblegum. "Earning the highest spot, I'm able to control the police forces of this town. But I'm not done yet. I still want to make the world a better place so I'm starting a project that will help our town."

"That's good," Belt said. "You got yourself organised."

"Hey, Clay and Bubblegum," said Emerald. "How's your new song going?"

"New song?" said Belt.

"It was meant to be a surprise for all of you but now Emerald spoiled it," said Bubblegum eying at Emerald. "I'm going to perform it later tonight."

"Isn't Clay going to sing as well?" asked Sebastian.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I can't sing that well. I only wrote the song."

"What is the song about?" asked Belt.

"Well, it's a tribute to all the people of the world," I said. "It's about what had happened during the war and what we learnt so far."

"Sounds like a good song," said Emerald. "I bet that it would be WAY better if Mecha sang that song as well. He has a good voice."

"Speaking of Mecha," I said. "Where is he?"

"I saw him today," Sebastian said. "He came back this morning but he hid in his house the whole time."

"C'mon!" said Emerald. "Bubblegum is going to perform soon."

"Wait," I protest. "I'll catch up with you guys. I'm going to find Mecha."

Bubblegum, Emerald and Sebastian went off to the party. Belt just stood in his spot.

"Is it ok if I go with you?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

We both went. It was hard to find which house Mecha lived in. But it didn't took that long. We stopped at a house that had a fancy-looking mailbox with these words: _MECHA NISM._ Not only the mailbox looked neat, the house looked pretty STUNNING. It looked futuristic. The walls were in beautiful gold. The garden had long shades of green-blue with yellow flowers near the walls. There was even a HUGE TELESCOPE on the roof. It wouldn't be possible for only a young teen to have his own house, especially THIS type.

Walking towards the door, I was about to ring the doorbell. Before I could, the door opened. It was Mecha. He was dressed differently. Leaving his goggles and utility belt on, he wore a black jacket, an army camouflage shirt, black pants and army camouflage boots. His hair and tail feathers were long again.

"Hey, Mecha," I said.

"Hi Rookie," Mecha said slowly. He doesn't look happy.

"You know that 'Rookie' is my old name," I said.

"Yeah, but I'm used to that nickname. Also, 'Clay' makes you look a bit clayey," said Mecha snickering (but not in a mean way) a bit.

"No it doesn't. At least it's better than Rookie," I said annoyed. "You said that make me weak."

"Yeah…that was how I saw it in the first place. But we're all rookies of the Resistance."

"Anyway, where were you? You disappeared two weeks ago."

Mecha looked down. "I'm sorry. I regret my decision on fighting Zero. I felt so bad. I went off because I want to find the other surviving member of the Jackal Squad."

"Who was it?"

"Obsidian. Apparently, he gave up his thieving life and started to live near the urban areas. He was happy to see me. I explained the whole story to him. He was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to convince Zero to stop but he forgave me. I promised that I'll see him again soon."

"At least you still have him."

"I still have you as a friend. I'm happy for you becoming a hero. You are not a weak wolf anymore."

"True but I'm still not as acrobatic or brave like you…"

"Stop. Listen. Don't think like that. You're a good soldier and you're more powerful than I am."

I smiled. I took the medal that was for Mecha out of my pocket and gave it to him.

"Here," I said. "This is for you. The Resistance wanted to thank you for helping us."

"No thanks," said Mecha pushing gently the medal away. "I have a lot of medals and trophies. Oh, that reminds me; I asked Mayor Wills if we could start the tournament again. I'm giving you a chance to experience it. I'm looking for a new member, so will you join my team?"

"I can't," I said. "Sorry. I joined the Blazers."

"I could join your team, Mecha," offered Belt.

"Sure. I could let you in already," Mecha smiled smugly. "Looks like we got a new rivalry going on."

"Let's not call it a rivalry," I chuckled nervously.

"Well Belt and you are on different teams, so you two will be against each other in the tournament."

"True but I don't like it to be a rivalry."

"Ok then. I'll give you one piece of advice; never MECH any MISTAKES in the tournament."

Belt and I smiled. Mecha smiled but then he frowned.

"You know that I'm still one of the greatest PROS in this town," he said seriously. "By WINNING and TEARING down anyone in my way."

That gave me the willies. I quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, we're going to the party now. You're coming?"

"I'll come," said Mecha. But then, he stopped. "Wait!"

He ran back inside his house and came out. But he was holding something in his hands and he was trembling nervously. It was a red sword. Mecha quickly dropped it in front of him.

"What is it?" said Belt.

"That's Infinite's sword," said Mecha. "Obsidian gave it to me. But Belt, you can have it. It's as a birthday gift and a thank you gift for joining my team."

"Thanks," said Belt as he hold the sword. "But don't you want it?"

Mecha winced. "No thanks. I'm scare of swords and I don't need any more weapons."

Satisfied, we went to the party. I still tried to give Mecha his medal but he refused and said that I could keep it. We arrived and it was HUGE. It was near the stadium with many people there. There was a large stage with a band playing there. Loud music was playing. We caught up with Emerald and Sebastian.

"Hey there!" said Emerald.

"Captain!" said Sebastian looking at Mecha in relief. "There you are! I was so worried of you."

"Sorry," said Mecha. "Where's Bubblegum?"

"She's backstage. She is getting ready to perform soon."

"Can't wait for that to happen. Since there is a few minutes before that happens, let's relax for a while."

Mecha, Emerald and Sebastian started dancing. I couldn't help but dance a bit. Belt just stood in his spot.

"What's wrong, Belt?" said Mecha. "Move a bit."

"Um…no thanks…" said Belt with his fur becoming redder.

"Why is that?"

"He doesn't know how to dance," I said.

Mecha just laughed. "C'mon! It's a party. You could dance all you want!"

"No!" said Belt turning red-pink. "I'm a lousy dancer! I would look like a fish flopping on land!"

"Nonsense! Let me see!"

Belt sighed. His fur turned hot pink. He tried to dance but he's a bit…stiff. Mecha stroked his beak, confused. Even Emerald and Sebastian looked confused of how Belt dance.

"Woah, whoa, whoa!" I said. "Just relax! The tip is don't jump too much. Just follow my lead."

Belt nodded slowly. His fur slowly turned back to red. I slowly did some dance moves. Belt followed them slowly.

"See, now you got it!" I said.

Finally, the music turned down. Everyone looked at the stage. Mayor Wills was there. Everyone clapped politely.

"Everyone here," he said. "I would like to a moment please."

The whole place came silent.

Almost as Emerald broke wind. A few people giggled a bit. I gave her a sharp look.

"Oops," she whispered.

"Anyway," said Mayor Wills. "Tonight, we are celebrating the freedom of the Eggman Empire. But we are also paying respects to those who lost their souls."

That got everyone to be serious. A few of them were crying.

"Those monsters out there," continued the Mayor. "They destroyed the most precious things we ever have; our friends and family. They either got killed or died sacrificing themselves. During this war, we hid and they won. But we were able to stop the Eggman Empire from wiping everyone out. Tonight, we will remember the ones that we loved and lost. Though some of us are by ourselves, we keep on moving on no matter what. Let's pay our respects now. Here with a new original song, 'The Light of Hope, here is Beth Lehem."

Everyone clapped again. Bubblegum walked slowly onto the stage, taking a few deep breaths. The soft piano and electro keyboard music started playing. Bubblegum sang the song.

"What a nice song," Belt said.

"You must be really good in song-writing, Clay," said Sebastian.

"Wish that it's a bit upbeat," said Emerald. "Not really a dance song."

I smiled. Suddenly, my rings started to glow. Only Belt, Mecha, Emerald and Sebastian noticed.

"What's going on?" I said.

"I think somebody would like to see you," said Belt.

He went towards me and stroke my rings. There was magic coming out of my rings. It started to take shape. It showed two cloaked people glowing yellow. Only my friends and I could see those visions.

The cloaked people took off their hoods. It revealed to be two wolves. I recognized them. Their faces were almost the same as the ones I saw from the photo.

"Mum? Dad?" I said shocked.

"Hi there, Clay," said Mum.

"Is that really you?"

"Not really," said Dad. "We're just visions that you could see."

"We're proud of both Belt and you for looking out for each other and protecting the world. We really wish that we could be with you now but we couldn't. But go on and live your life. We will watch over you."

I started to shed tears. "I wish that I could get to see you more."

"Don't worry," said Mum. "We will meet you next time."

"But…but when?"

"You'll find out soon," said Dad. "We are finding a way."

"We got to go now," said Mum. "We will always be with you."

Breaking into tears, I hugged my virtual parents. They wrapped their arms around me.

"It's ok," they kept saying. "It's ok."

Finally they let go. I saw them fading away.

"See you later, Dark Wolf," they both said before disappearing.

They fade away. Looking in front, I saw Belt smiling at me.

"Thank you…" I said smiling with tears. "Thank you…"

"You're welcome," said Belt as Bubblegum finishing her song.

Mecha went towards me and pat me on the back.

"I guess you are no longer a lone wolf," he said.

"Thanks for being my friends," I said.

"This is going to be great," said Emerald. "Now we get to continue to live in peace and have a happy life!"

"But...it's not over yet," Sebastian pointed out. "Eggman is still out there. What if he does another attack? What if he brings back Infinite? What if the war starts again?"

"True," I said. "It may be the end of this war but it's just the beginning. But whatever happens, we'll find a way to save the world."

"We will," said Belt. "But for now on, let's relax. At last, Earth can lives in peace. And for those who passed away can rest in peace. Amen."

"Amen," I said.

 **The End**

* * *

 _Our world is in flames_

 _War is a powerful word_

 _A hell-like place that might never end_

 _Should we hide away? No._

 _We have to fight._

 _You might think you couldn't do it._

 _You might think that you're useless._

 _But that is not true._

 _Nobody's worthless._

 _Though it doesn't look like that way, you ALWAYS have a special talent._

 _Don't let the darkness take over you._

 _There will always be a light in the dark._

 _You just got to find it._

* * *

 **AN:** **And we're done! Forces United comes to an end. I thank all the readers (you!) for reading this story and reached 1700 views. I also want to thank the people who helped and support me throughout this year. It was fun! I hoped that all of you learnt the messages we should live by. Leave a review about how you think about this story (still NO flames AND swearing).**

 **Who's knows what new adventures are coming for the Black Squad? Like what Clay said, it's JUST the beginning. I have school but I'll keep my eye out for the next story which might come out in a few months or next year (or if the next Sonic game comes out). The next one, I'm expecting it to be more BRIGHTER and DARKER.**

 **Until next time, be nice, don't take your anger on others, tell others about your problems, may God be with you and please remember; you are NOT alone.**

 **Keep on rocking,**

 **TurquoiseTriangle...out...**


	11. Scrapped Chapter 1 - Bubblegum

**AN: 2676 VIEWS! THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

 **Hello there. It's been like exactly 5 MONTHS since I released the last chapter. For those who already read, the story isn't 'complete'. During the progress, I had to leave out some chapters because of how long the story might be. But now I have the heart to release these 4 scrapped chapters. I'm doing a HUGE update on this story which I like to call this story the DARKER VERSION. I already fix grammar mistakes and made a few changes to this story (so that it could lead to the IDW series). Also, I added some trivia facts in my OC's bios (see the first 6 chapters) so that you could know them a bit more. As a bonus, you could read the upcoming 4 chapters that I'm going to put up. Anyway, enough talking.**

 **This chapter was supposed to be in Chapter 8 - World Missions. It shows Bubblegum learning more about the Red Squad and how Bubblegum and Richard became a couple...**

* * *

 **Scrapped Chapter 1 - Bubblegum**

 **Third Person's POV, Green Hill Zone 29/07 (at 3 pm)**

To mix things up, Knuckles sent each member of the Black Squad to different missions. Bubblegum's mission was to go with the Red Squad. They were supposed to save villagers that were captured and held as slaves at one of Eggman's factories.

While in the plane, which was heading to the factory, Bubblegum looked out from the window. A lot had happened. Bubblegum was surprised that Mecha apologized to her for his actions, but she wondered if the bird would try not to be a jerk.

Bubblegum even found out that Belt is Rookie's brother. She wondered if she would see the red wolf again. Also, she was worried about what might happen to Rookie if he got covered in darkness.

"I wonder if we will be able to defeat Eggman once and for all," said Mic who was flying the plane. "I wish it will stop soon."

"There will be a way to stop it," said Richard who was sitting in the same row with Bubblegum. "Good guys always win, and bad guys don't."

Curious, Bubblegum asked, "Hey guys, when you joined the Resistance?"

"A few days after Sonic's disappearance," answered Minty.

"And how come Sonic saved you guys before he was captured?"

Richard hesitated. He tried to think of an excuse, but he gave up and sighed. "I don't want to bring this up, but Rookie already did. We know how Sonic disappeared."

"What happened?" asked Bubblegum.

Richard took a deep breath. "Before all of this, we lived in New York City. That day, we were chilling out, discussing about becoming heroes like Sonic. But then, a robot attacked the cafe we were in. We ran out and met up with our parents. Much to our surprise, Tails was there, and he tried to protect us. Just before the robots shot us, Sonic arrived and destroyed them. The survivors quickly went off to safety, but I stayed behind, watching from the dark shadows. I saw replicas of Eggman's past henchmen. Then, Infinite came. Sonic tried to fight, but he was beaten up easily and lost conscious. Scared, I ran off. Tails followed me, but he ran off in another direction, grieving Sonic's 'death'. I was able to meet up with the survivors, but Infinite followed us. He killed most of them."

Minty sighed. "He killed my parents."

" **He also killed my mother,** " said Mic growling under his breath.

"And yours?" said Bubblegum to Richard.

Richard looked down sadly. "They perished. A falling building crushed my father. My mother died in my house when it exploded. My sister and I ran, but Infinite confronted us. I would've been dead, but my sister quickly got in front of me and got shot in the back."

Bubblegum looked at Richard. It was almost too much for him to take. His mouth was wavering with emotions.

"I cried and asked why Infinite chose to harm me, and he replied that the world was pathetic, and so was I. He spared me for an exchange to run away in fear. As I ran for cover, I heard his insults; calling me weak, coward, useless…Later when the coast was clear, I came up to my sister's dying body and with her last breath told me that she did this to protect the last of our family and I should continue to follow my dream."

Richard had a tear coming down from his eye before continued talking. "After that, my friends and I swore to protect the world from the Eggman Empire. But I also vowed on revenge, to kill Infinite. Mic's dad told us not to, but we made a point why. So, therefore, we joined the Resistance. In the end, it's just the three of us."

Mic and Minty were wiping their eyes. Richard was choked up. It was the saddest story Bubblegum heard before.

"I'm sorry about that," she said. "I also lost my parents."

"Were they killed by Infinite?" asked Richard.

"No, they passed away a long time ago. Don't worry. Someday, we will avenge your parents."

"Yeah," said Minty angrily hitting her right palm with her left hand. "We'll make Infinite pay."

Finally, they arrived in front of the factory. They hid the plane in some bushes and broke into the factory. They used the air vents to get around the factory. Eventually, they got lost. Richard accidentally got separated from the others. But he called them that he'd meet up with them when they got into the prison.

Bubblegum, Mic and Minty were going through a long hallway. It led to the prison.

"Hey Bubblegum," said Mic.

"What?" asked Bubblegum.

"I would like to ask you something. There's something about you and Richard."

"Huh?"

"You sometimes look at Richard admiringly. You know what I think?"

"You're dreaming, Mic," said Bubblegum blushing. "Shut up."

Mic chuckled. "YOU LIKE RICHARD!"

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Bubblegum. "No way!"

"Way! You do like Richard."

Bubblegum sighed. "OK. I like him. I have feelings for him since the time you two saved us back in Australia. I think that he looks so brave, tough and handsome…"

"Maybe you should ask him to go out with you!" joked Mic.

Bubblegum shrugged.

"Go out? Gross!" said Minty screwing her face.

"What's gross?" asked Bubblegum.

"I'm not hot on love stuff. I hate the fact of people mingling with each other. I don't EVEN want to get a boyfriend. Also, I…"

"Don't even say it. Plus, I don't know if Richard likes me or not."

"There's a chance," said Mic. "He's been looking for a mate. He is longing to have one. Maybe you would be the one!"

Bubblegum snorted.

Their conversation ended when they reached the prison door. Breaking it, they found themselves in a large room with many cells on both sides of the walls. There were prisoners in the cells, looking around desperately but when they saw the soldiers in the building, they regained hope.

"Hey you three!" said one of them.

"Four, actually," said Richard as he came out of an air vent. Bubblegum blushed the second she saw him.

"Anyway, can you help us get out of here?" continued the prisoner.

"Sure thing!" said Minty.

Just then, they heard a bubbling noise. With no warning, a dragon-like creature which seemed to be made of water appeared, swimming out from another air vent. The creature has a few small pixels surrounding it.

"What…is that?" said Bubblegum staring at the scary figure.

"That's Chaos!" said Richard. "It must be another replica. Chaos is an immortal god-like creature with water-like chaos powers!"

"So what do you know? Now we have to fight a god who can't be killed."

"Not really," said Minty. "I've defeated him once, and maybe we could stop that replica."

The water-creature gave a loud roar before rushing over to the soldiers. At the same time, Minty ran to Chaos, also about to attack.

"It's been a while since I kicked your butt!" taunted Minty. "Now I'm going to do it again; the old-fashioned way!"

Curling up into a ball like how Sonic would do, she launched herself at Chaos.

This caused Chaos to fall in defeat. Or at least so. The second Minty landed, the water god revived and punched the mint green hedgehog in the face.

"Get the prisoners to safety," said Richard to Mic. "We'll distract Chaos as long as we could."

Mic nodded, and the three went into action.

"Hey!" yelled Richard at Chaos. "You wouldn't punch a lady, would you?"

Chaos' only respond was to fly forward to Richard and Bubblegum. He let out a big spit of water, knocking the cats down. Then, the water god went over to Richard, about to do the final blow.

"Hey you!" yelled Bubblegum.

Chaos looked up. Bubblegum quickly got up, dropped her Wispon to her waist and fired. A large spike ball hit Chaos, but it went right through! The water god turned his attention to Bubblegum. Richard watched in awe. They started to fight each other with Bubblegum fighting using hand combat skills. But Chaos was too strong. Bubblegum fell on the floor and Chaos raised his claw-like hand, about to smash her.

STRIKE!

Thinking quickly, Richard whipped a lightning bolt from his Wispon knocking Chaos. The water god was about to continue when he heard a whistle. Behind him was Minty; instead of her Indigo Wispon, she replaced it with a Violet Wispon.

"Happy Birthday!" said Minty giving Chaos a birthday present he would never forget.

The powerful Violet Wispon started to suck Chaos. His water body helplessly got sucked into the muzzle. But the second he did, he flickered and disappeared in pixels.

"And the mighty God is defeated," said Minty smirking. "Again."

Meanwhile, Mic was able to set the prisoners free and led them to the exit.

"Yes!" he said as he re-entered the room. "You did it!"

Richard quickly came up to the injured Bubblegum. She was getting up on her feet shakily.

"Are you OK?" asked Richard in concern.

"I'm OK," said Bubblegum blushing a bit.

"I thought you were going to die."

"I thought YOU were going to be dead. It's OK. I owe you that."

"Well, I quickly saved your life. So you owed me back s…"

But before Richard could finish, Bubblegum couldn't help but…

SMOOCH!

Bubblegum KISSED Richard (not even kidding).

Realizing her mistake, Bubblegum quickly stop.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" said Bubblegum quickly in embarrassment. "I didn't mean…"

Richard blushed before saying, "What a stupid first kiss…."

And then, Richard KISSED Bubblegum. Bubblegum was surprised. Feeling loved, she enjoyed the moment.

"Err…" said Mic gobsmacked. "Richard? Bubblegum?"

Neither those two were listening. They were still kissing. Mic smiled.

"Now we have a new couple," he said.

Minty had the opposite effect. Her face was turning puke green. Quickly, she ran to one of the prison cells, bent down in front of the toilet bowl and…

* * *

 **AN: Ha ha ha! Now here's Richard's bio.**

 **Name: Richard Berlin**

 **Age: 19**

 **Species: Cat**

 **Eye Color: Dark Brown**

 **Fur Color: Brown Orange**

 **Skin Color: Light Peach**

 **Quill/Hair Style: Small tufts of fur sticking from both sides of the head**

 **Attire: Tan Soldier Helmet (Wears a tan cap when not working), Brown Collared Shirt, Small Green Scarf, Brown Gloves, Brown Shoes**

 **Noticeable Features: Have fangs**

 **Personality: Brave, Friendly, Selfless, Unforgiving (sometimes), Cynical about foes, Righteous, Doubtful (in bad times)**

 **Trivia**

 **\- Speaks in an American accent**

 **\- Never goes around without a hat**

 **\- Develops a hatred towards Infinite**

 **...and we wrapped up the first scrapped chapter. I hoped that you enjoyed it. I'll try to upload the rest of the chapters on Mondays and Fridays (Australian Time). Until next time, leave a comment/review about this chapter.**

 **Special Note: I have a profile on Scratch (a free programming website in case you don't know) which I call myself CheahCraft; only on Scratch. I made a new project that you could ask or dare my OCS called 'Forces United - Black Squad Chatroom'! Go to Scratch, search for 'Forces United - Black Squad Chatroom' and leave an ask or dare there. I'll be waiting and answer your asks and dares.**


	12. Scrapped Chapter 2 - Mecha

**AN: Woop! Scrapped Chapter 2 is here! This was supposed to be in Chapter 9 - The Final War. It shows how Mecha came back to help Sonic and Clay defeat Infinite...**

* * *

 **Scrapped Chapter 2 - Mecha**

 **Third Person's POV, Far Away from Eggman Empire Fortress**

Mecha was all by himself in a dark rocky cave. He was screeching in agony and kicking at rocks.

He was upset.

He was upset about what happened.

He was upset about being an idiot.

He was upset for not facing his fear.

But he was very upset that he lost his friends.

He had been spared by Infinite who enjoyed watching the bird's fear. Sure Mecha ran away, but he didn't know where he was going and eventually got injured by robots. He used one of his teleportation bombs to get him out but not before he became unconscious. When he woke up, he started to regret what he did and broke into a big tantrum.

What he didn't know was that a person was coming into the cave.

"Mecha?" said the person.

The turquoise bird stopped. Looking behind, he saw a cyan female bird with the same brown eyes he had and her hair tied up as a ponytail. She wore a multicolored shirt, a black and yellow jacket, black and yellow gloves, a yellow skirt, yellow and black boots and pilot goggles.

Mecha groaned. It was Nicki, his annoying twin sister and another member of his team.

"Get lost," grumbled Mecha still with watery eyes.

"What's the matter, brother?" asked Nicki.

"Nothing…" said Mecha looking away.

"You look very upset. The last time I saw you with tears was when you got that scar. What are you upset about? Your jackal friend Zero?"

Mecha turned around.

"How did you know that?!" he snapped.

"I read your diary," Nicki said with a smile.

Mecha face palmed. He forgot that Nicki broke into his house to spy on him. Even the defensive systems didn't work. Nicki must have read his diary when Mecha wasn't looking.

"Yeah…" admitted Mecha. "It was. He is also…I…Infinite."

Nicki smile disappeared as she absorbed the news.

"What?"

"Yes. After Zero joined Eggman, he put a powerful gem prototype gem on his chest to become powerful."

"Then how come you got upset."

Mecha hesitated. Then he spoke. "I don't have the strength to fight Zero. Despite everything he put us through for the past six months, I still miss him. Also, he captured my friends."

"Who?"

"Bubblegum and a wolf named Rookie."

"I thought you are rivals with Bubblegum."

"That was a million years ago. I started to see the negativity of my actions. It just that I didn't know how to solve this situation. I was forced to choose either to save my friends and fight Zero or to run away. I chose to run. I didn't know what to do, and now it's already too late."

Nicki looked at Mecha for a while. Then she went up to him.

"Let's pretend that you get to make that choice again. I say that you should save your friends and stop that nasty monster."

"But I could not do it…" said Mecha, his voice cracking with negative emotions.

"Listen. I know that it's hard, but you have to face it. Zero is evil. You have to accept it. He already destroyed many lives. You would have to keep your mind on the world instead of him. Or in this case, your two friends. You have to do the right thing even though it could be very difficult. For now, those two are more important. Zero needs to be stopped. It would like what our father's choice was; either live alone or live with us."

Mecha stared at Nicki. His sister might be right. It's time to face the facts. Zero is evil and always will be evil. Killing him for his crime is cruel but so is the jackal who wrecked everything. He only have to blame himself. Mecha did everything he could throughout the war. Besides, for the first time, he agreed with his sister.

"Ok," said the turquoise bird. "I'll try to do the right thing…"

"Good brother," chirped Nicki as she playfully grabbed his beak, shaking it before letting go. "C'mon, let's go."

But Mecha stood in his spot. His eyes were barely dry.

"Okay-dokie," said Nicki understanding why Mecha didn't want to go yet. "You need some time alone."

But before the aqua bird left, she took something out from her bag. It was MECHA'S YELLOW AND BLACK JACKET.

"You left this at the stadium," said Nicki as she passed Mecha his jacket. "Be the Death Shocker I know. Make father proud."

Smiling, Nicki ran and went off to the battlefield. Mecha was staring at his jacket, surprised. Understanding what the right decision was, he put his jacket on and covered his head with the hood.

"Time to put an end to this endless battle," said Mecha with his hand holding very tightly onto his Wispon and his eyes angrily narrowed.

* * *

 **AN: And the moral of the story: Sisters can be annoying...AND more logical. Here's Mic's bio.**

 **Name: Mic Derman**

 **Age: 18**

 **Species: Arctic Grey Wolf**

 **Eye Color: Orange**

 **Fur Color: Light Grey**

 **Skin Color: White**

 **Quill/Hair Style: Quills combed to the right**

 **Attire: Long French brown jacket, white shirt, shamrock green finger-less leather gloves, military pants, black boots**

 **Noticeable Features: Have fangs**

 **Personality: Level-Headed, Loyal, Humble, Friendly, Honest, Risk-Taking**

 **Trivia**

 *** Have an interest in machines**

 *** Studies army military**

 *** His father was once a famous leader of a wolf pack**

 **AN: Boom. Two down. Two more chapters to go! This may be short but I hoped you like it. Leave a review about it. Wait, what's this? My Scratch project - 'Forces United - Black Squad Chatroom' - hasn't have any replies or asks/dares yet. Go on Scratch, search for** **'Forces United - Black Squad Chatroom' and put in an ask or dare. I'll be waiting.**

 **Until next time, see ya!**


	13. Scrapped Chapter 3 - Belt

**AN: Hello again. This is the third scrapped chapter. This chapter was supposed to be in Chapter 10 - No Longer a Lone Wolf. It shows the disappearance of Clay's and Belt's parents.**

* * *

 **Scrapped Chapter 3 - Belt**

 **Third Person's POV, Flashback (11 years ago), Australia**

 _A 6 years-old Belt was walking through the forest. The trees were swaying slowly. Night time had fallen as the sky was black. Though it wasn't a good idea to go on his own, he was curious and wanted to explore. There, he discovered a cave._

 _"What's in there?" he thought staring at it._

 _Without hesitating, Belt went into the cave. It was dark, but he could see in the dark. Despite that, creepy noises were coming from nowhere. The red wolf cub felt scared as that a six-year-old wouldn't survive in a cave without a supervisor. Then, he came to a dead end. But in front of that wall, there were two stone pillars. On top of them were two sets of rings. One green and the other yellow._

 _"What are those?" Belt said to himself._

 _He went up to the green rings. As he went closer, they started to call his name. At first, he was reluctant, but he slowly reached his hand to grab them until…_

 _FLING!_

 _The green rings started to fly and went above Belt. This startled the young wolf, and he fell. One of the flying rings flew onto Belt's left hand. The other flew onto his right hand._

 _CLUMP! CLUMP!_

 _As soon as that happened, the rings were stuck to his gloves. Belt tried to take them off but couldn't. Then, some mint green magic came out of his right hand._

 _"Whoa…" Belt said as he watched it._

 _"This is interesting," he thought._

 _Realising how long he was away, he decided to go home and come clean. But he decided to take the other pair of rings; the yellow ones. He crept towards them and slowly about to grab them. He expected them to become attached to his hands, but surprisingly, they didn't. Smiling, he took the yellow rings and went off, with the green rings still stuck on his wrists._

 _He arrived home, in the middle of the forest. A small, but roomy house. His parents, Booth and Dory, worked as lumberjacks. They gave wood to Forest Tournament Town but decided to live outside the town._

 _As Belt entered and went into the kitchen, he saw his parents chattering to each other. They looked extremely worried._

 _"Hey, Mum! Hey Dad!" he said._

 _Booth and Dory turned around to see their son._

 _"Belt!" said Booth._

 _"Where were you?" said Dory firmly._

 _"I was outside," answered Belt. He knew that it was bad telling lies._

 _"We've told you many times not to go out by yourself!" said Booth strictly._

 _"Sorry…"_

 _"And, what is that?"_

 _Booth was pointing to the rings Belt was holding. Both Booth and Dory were also looking at the rings he was wearing._

 _"Um…I've found them in a cave," said Belt._

 _"What kind of rings are those?" said Dory._

 _"They look interesting," said Booth. "Maybe we should ask some of the people at the town."_

 _But then, their conversation was interrupted by a loud bang. Coming from the back door, a robot smashed through. It came from the Eggman Empire but neither the wolves know where the robot came from._

 _"Belt! Get behind me!"_

 _Belt went behind his parents fearing the robot in front of them. It started to move forward._

 _"What are we going to do?" whimpered Belt._

 _"Clay is still in his room," said Booth. "We need to get him!"_

 _"I'll distract the robot," said Dory. "You'll get Clay."_

 _Dory looked at the little wolf. "Belt, hide behind the sofa!"_

 _Belt did what his mother told him to do. As Belt quickly hid, Dory went on the left. She called the robot and caught its attention. Booth sneaked on the right and headed upstairs. But the robot acted quickly._

 _It shot a beam of a laser in front of the blue wolf causing him to fall down the stairs._

 _The robots pointed its hands at the parents. Left was Dory and right were Booth. It was about to shoot before Belt quickly revealed his hiding place._

 _"STOP!" he cried._

 _But then, Belt accidentally made a mint-green ball of energy, and it zoomed towards the robot. But it missed and instead hit the oven._

 _KABOOM!_

 _Flames erupted everywhere. Belt was thrown back by the forces and knocked over the coach. He fell on the floor head-first with the coach in front of him._

 _Everything went dark…_

 _Belt woke up. He coughed and stood up on his feet. Looking down, he saw the pair of yellow rings. He picked it up._

 _He then looked up. The house was on fire. Almost everything was burnt and had flames on them. The kitchen was entirely burnt. Looking around, he expected if the robot or his parents are around. But nothing. Nobody called._

 _"Mum?!" called Belt. "Dad?!"_

 _Nothing._

 _He called again. In a panic, he looked around the whole ground level. He thought that his parents might be around, but there was no bodies. Even no remained of the robot. Desperate, Belt continued to look around. He also howled at one point. But he didn't see his parents._

 _His eyes were filling with tears. He collapsed on his knees and started to cry._

 _"Mum…Dad…I'm so sorry…" he wept. "…They're gone…"_

 _He couldn't believe it. It would be so hard for losing parents at a very young age. Belt felt bad and doubted himself. He kept saying that it was his fault. Suddenly, the yellow rings that he dropped were calling. Belt stopped and looked at the rings. He listened very carefully._

 _"…Clay…Clay…" they whispered._

 _Belt realised something. "Clay."_

 _He grabbed the yellow rings and went up the stairs. He forgot about his younger brother, and something might happen to him._

 _But as Belt went upstairs, it appeared that no harm happened. The top floor wasn't on fire, although anything could happen._

 _Belt quickly ran to his brother's room. He found Clay; the 3-years old turquoise wolf cub in bed, sleeping quietly._

 _Knowing that the two had to get out of the burning house, Belt ran up to the bed. He was about to pick the cub from the bed when the yellow rings started to fly in the air._

 _"Oh no," said Belt._

 _He quickly tried to grab them, but it was too late. The yellow rings flew to Clay's hands and attached to the wrists. Belt sighed. Like his rings, the rings won't come off of Clay's hands._

 _He picked up his sleeping brother and went out of the house._

 _When outside, Belt laid the still-sleeping Clay on the thick grass. Belt looked at Clay's rings, then his. There was no telling how long they were going to wear them for. The red wolf looked at the burning house. It was already fully on fire. The two wolf brothers had no home but even worse; no parents._

 _Belt started to tears again. Finding those rings were a big mistake, and it costed the lives of his parents._

 _Belt lied down on the thick grass next to his brother. He closed his eyes, still tears flowing down his cheek._

 _"This is my fault…I'll never see them again…" he thought as he fell into a deep sleep._

 _What he didn't know was…_

* * *

 **AN: Is what? The answer will be revealed soon! ;) Here's Minty's bio.  
**

 **Name: Mint Thinson**

 **Age: 18**

 **Species: Hedgehog**

 **Eye Color: Teal**

 **Fur Color: Mint Green**

 **Skin Color: Light Peach**

 **Quill/Hair Style: Small tufts of fur sticking from both sides of the head**

 **Attire: Army Camouflage Singlet, Black finger-less Gloves, Black Ripped Pants, Black Boots with a knife strapped to the right boot, a strap filled with small bombs**

 **Noticeable Features: TBA**

 **Personality: Valiant, Brave, Cool-Headed AND Hot-Headed, Likes to Gossip or tease, Honest, Sarcastic**

 **Trivia**

 **\- Gets the name from 'Mint Thins' biscuits**

 **\- Likes to be single**

 **\- Easily disgusted when hearing anything about LOVE physically and socially**

 **And there we go. The next/last scrapped chapter will be the epilogue. It will show the aftermath of the war. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this flashback. Leave a review about this chapter.**

 **Also, NO REPLIES on my Scratch project! 'Forces United - Black Squad Chatroom' hasn't got ANY relies or asks/dares yet. Sorry if I'm a bit begging but I had been waiting for any replies. If you want to ask my OCs, go on Scratch, search** **'Forces United - Black Squad Chatroom' and leave an ask or dare. I'll be waiting (for the third time!)**

 **Until then, see you later.**


	14. Epilogue - Welcome Home

**AN: 3000 views! Thank you so much!**

 **Here we are. The last chapter of the story. I would like to give thanks to all the rock 'n' rollers who read, followed or reviewed this story. I would also like to give massive thanks to Infinite's Ruby and SpiderDom321. It's a pleasure for you to enjoy my story. Now here is the final scrapped chapter; the epilogue.**

* * *

 **Epilogue - Welcome Home**

 **Third Person's POV (Someday after the Infinite War)**

The mood was somber as the Resistance came over to a huge graveyard. Each fallen soldier was buried. Each of them was wrapped in a blanket with the Resistance symbol on it.

Richard had a pain that was like nothing before. Worse than the pain anyone experienced in the war whether physical or not. His body was crying out in huge agony and hopelessness. His family and squad are gone and never to return.

As he buried the last body, wrapped in a blanket with some red marks, he felt strange. He remembered during the war when one of the soldiers quit over the failure of a mission…and the punch he received from that soldier.

" _This Resistance will NEVER find a solution this war. It gives no hope and only gives out lies and costs everything!_ " said that soldier.

Those words have a big impact. Richard wondered if that soldier was right. He lost everything. It costed him everything to fight for peace. All he got were lies with no hope, but that all to change when the Black Squad came, and everything was resolved.

So why was he still upset? Why did he still have sorrow when everything was better already? Why did he feel helpless when peace came back? People should not weep when they became victorious.

Richard stared at the tomb for a long time. He looked up. Mic was talking to his father.

"Mic is so lucky to still have his father," Richard thought grimly. "Why? How come…I got nobody to look upon…?"

He felt somebody holding onto his shoulder. It was Sonic.

"Hey Richard," said Sonic smiling. "I heard that you're going to be the new commander of the Resistance. Congratulations."

That was true. After discussing with his squad, Richard became the new leader of the Resistance since the Red Squad was given the leadership role.

"Well I guess that sounds pretty fantastic," said Richard sarcastically. He was too upset to be happy about it.

Sonic noticed his grief. "Don't be sad. The war's over. Your family and friends would be proud of you for doing this."

Richard glared at the blue hedgehog. "Why? Why do you find everything so PEACHY?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sonic.

"You've always been carefree about dangers. You never refuse to give up. You've never shown that you're ashamed of yourself for those six months. How did you handle the pain? Why do you always stay cool?"

Bitterness was dripping from Richard's mouth. He looked like he was ready to cry.

"I…" stammered Sonic. "I always look on the bright side. Yes, I do feel the shame of many incidents these past years and mourn for those I left behind. I can't always focus on the past, as we need to look for a better future. I find hope for myself and everyone. It takes a lot of work to reach to this phase."

"But what was it all for?" said Richard. "What was it REALLY for? The cities? Destroyed into rubble. Everyone? They are dead. MY family died. MY squad died. And that was because I sacrificed EVERYTHING. I rather die than looking for a solution during those months of pain."

Sonic sighed. "Well, not everyone gets to live forever. Sometimes existing life has to move on and let new life grows. Your friends would have to sacrifice themselves so that they could protect everything they love and show their goodness. Old life might be lost, but it won't be lost for no good reasons."

"Duh. Bubblegum told me that those who died would 'go to heaven and be with God'…whatever THAT means!"

"I'm sorry that your friends are gone. That doesn't mean that they are gone from YOUR memory. As long as you remember them, you know that they are always by your side."

"I don't feel it. I don't feel comfortable being alive without a family member…I think I should just go home."

"Oh shut up Richard," said an amplified voice.

Richard looked behind. It was Minty, her hands on her hips.

"My parents aren't here anymore. Neither are yours. And so is Mic's mum. There are some things we can't always have. I was thinking of quitting as well but that all are changing when Sonic gave us this hope. We already won the war, but now you're giving up on us. You STILL haven't lost everything. I'm here for you. The rest of the Resistance is here for you. We all lost somebody important in our lives, but our army is our family now. A REAL family. We share the same scars and the same thoughts. We made friends with the other squads. The deceased ones sacrificed themselves to save us and everything they always desire. The Resistance Headquarters is our home, and you can have the choice to be the father or go away with nobody on your side."

Richard was silent. He looked at Mic who was still talking with his father then at the grave.

"I guess you're right," said Richard finally. "This is where I'm supposed to be."

"Welcome home, Commander," said Minty smiling.

* * *

 _Memories of happy times might perish away_

 _And families might need to say goodbye_

 _It can be so hard living alone like a lone wolf_

 _But don't feel sad 'cause here I am_

 _I'll be your shelter, your guard_

 _And I will light up everything in the dark_

 _Struggling events might make us divided_

 _But there is a home for both of us; a place where we're united_

* * *

 **Our story ends with our heroes back at home. But when enemies are defeated, new ones will rise. And THIS time, a darker immortal will come...**

 **THE END**

* * *

 **AN: Hooray! That's the end! Again, I would like to shout out to all the awesome people who read this story (mostly you, Amazing Americans).**

 **I'm working on the sequel. I'm going to be busy but I promise that it will be release next year during the summer. Again, I will say that the next story will be BRIGHTER and DARKER.**

 **I got an important note for you all. Ever since, I compared this story to other Sonic Forces stories on Fanfiction. I felt like this one is very unique and a bit incomplete. So I'm thinking of making a remaster for this story so that I could make some sense of this story and put back in some of the most important events of Sonic Forces (like Operation Big Wave and Null Space). I would like you to let me know your options on a poll I made on my profile. Please answer the poll. Whatever answer, I would be happy to accept and I will get going with the remaster version of this story.**

 **Also, my Scratch project - now called 'Ask or Dark! Forces United - Black Squad Chatroom' - doesn't have ANY replies! Sorry again, but I have been waiting for any replies or asks/dares. Go to Scratch, search for** **'Ask or Dark! Forces United - Black Squad Chatroom' and leave an ask/dare. I'll be waiting (again...).**

 **Leave a review on this story. Until next time, take care, let God be with you and keep on rocking. And oh, watch out for Phantom Rubies.**


End file.
